Hearthpwn

The first card today is Blatant Decoy and it more or less sets the tone for what we will see today. The Deathrattle minions of Saviors of Uldum were all quite interesting, but lacked the support in Standard to really develop into a ladder appropriate meta deck.

In the case of Blatant Decoy this is because the card is too high in Mana cost to really make for a very good cheating mechanism. A robust 5/5 on turn 6 will likely take at least another turn to kill, at which point you are likely cheating out a 9 or 10 cost minion at turn 7. That's nice, especially because it doesn't cost you any mana, but you will still have to deal with whatever minion your opponent had summoned as well. Compare this to Paladin's Prismatic Lens and Blatant Decoy just isn't that good.

That said, the card allows for a specific type of deckbuilding, and can be a lot of fun, if you enjoy cheating out huge minions. And that kind of defines these Deathrattle minions too. They can be a ton of fun, and are pretty much all very unique. So, let this conclusion set the tone: this card is fun, is probably easier to build around in Wild and you will probably not see it on the ladder.

Example Deck: Duel Paladin

When Expired Merchant was first revealed to the public the opinion seemed to be that this was a very good card that would allow for some copies of cards that on their own were bad enough, let alone if your opponent suddenly had 2 of them.

This advantage never really materialized, at least not on Standard ladder. The risk of letting the card be silenced is such that you are more or less forced to either play a big risk (lose one of your best cards for nothing) OR it forces you to spend an extra card killing the minion, which is not really the efficiency you hoped for with this card. Warlock has ways to kill it without much hindrance, like EVIL Genius but that just complicates the combo even further.

In the end this card has potential, and I feel it will likely find a use in Wild at some point, if not now then in the future. It will then be a hilarious card that allows you to get 2 copies of totally broken cards. It's also a decent card in Arena, which card generation is more important and silences are less common. But measured by Standard Ranked, it's just not quite there.

Example Deck: Wild Reno Lock

In some other classes (Warlock for sure) Grandmummy would be an auto-include card, that makes for decent early game with potential to cause real problems with it's deathrattle. Unfortunately it's a Priest class card, and Priest is not exactly known for it's ability to run good early game decks.

People definitely did try to run Priest Zoo decks and early game decks, but nice as the card is, it's not enough on it's own to win you games. It needs other cards which, when buffed, are harder to kill or cause more problems. This is what makes it a decent enough card in Arena, where the effect it has can allow you to build and maintain an early board.

While on it's own it's not quite enough to make Zoo Priest a thing, there's potential for the future if Blizzard decides to build around this archetype for Priest more. It's also an early game card that has gotten some looks in Wild Priest Deathrattle decks.

Example Deck: Wild Death Priest

A quite forgettable card from the set Jar Dealer is one of those low mana cost cards that doesn't really do much. A 1/1 for 1 that gives you another 1 mana minion, it doesn't really move the needle much. Despite that it's probably the best card in general on this list in Ranked Standard.

Because it does what it does quite well. It replenishes your hand, which is nice for Hand Size or Hand Buff based decks. Randomly getting another Brazen Zealot can be game changing.

And so it made this list, because despite it's unimpressive look, this is an underrated card. It fills it's role well in most any game mode you would play it, even in Arena.

Example Deck: Legend Hand Paladin

Octosari is the rock star of this list. Not because it's that amazing on Ranked Ladder, but because it brings a unique and hilarious effect that can be used (and abused) in various ways. Also, it's a giant octopus. I mean come on. How can you not love it?

Apparently Blizzard had been trying to include this card in sets for a long time, as a 10/10 for 10 that draws 10 cards. But it was so bad that they never pulled the trigger on it until reigning it in to an 8/8 for 8 with an 8 card draw deathrattle. And that still opens the door to hilarious fatigue deaths by you or even your opponent. A unique card, balanced through the fact that it draws more cards than is healthy for anyone and through that also finds it's greatest strength in meme decks.

Our rating for this card: There's no giant octopuses anywhere in Uldum. It makes no sense. And neither does this card. That's all the rating you need.

Example Deck: Wild Octo-senpai OTK

The idea behind Sahket Sapper seemed solid when revealed. You get a 4/4 for 4 and on top of that you get a Sap for free, kinda, sort of. But even then the risk was apparent, that if you could let the opponent control which minion got sapped back to their hand that it might lead to trouble.

And it seems that downside never saw a solution and it seems that there's not enough upside for this card to really be playable in constructed. It's hard to find any decks that even try to make the card work. In Arena however this card is pretty good. The lost tempo for your opponent is significant, especially against a Rogue.

Which means that this cards ends up with the dreaded "Good in Arena" label and will likely never escape it. It will have its role there and it will be a nice card to see in Tavern Brawls at some point I'm sure, but it cannot overcome its limitations for constructed.

Example Deck: Wild Even Pirate Rogue

The story behind Salhet's Pride card name is more interesting then the card itself. Salhet was a young Tol'Vir in Uldum (in the MMORPG) who lacked any kind of physical ability to fight, but who had wanted to become a general in the army since he was a young cub. Because of his lack of fighting prowess he was stuck being sent out to improve it, by killing Hyenas. He had to do this so often he made friends with a pride of Lions, and through a wide array of signals gave them commands to strategically kill wave after wave of Hyenas. Through the recommendation of the player he ends up a big hero by strategically beating the armies of an opposing Tol'Vir sect.

I think we can all appreciate a hero who wins with strategy over physical ability.

The card however is slightly boring. It tutors out specific cards if you need them, like Brazen Zealot but it's stats are kind of bad, which means it's just not impactful enough, which shows in Arena too where it is a below average pick.

Example Deck: Shirvallah OTK

That's it for this Saviors of Uldum Deathrattle card review, check back for more reviews in the future.