Best Saviors of Uldum Neutral Cards for Free-To-Play Budget Players

We are living through one of the most expensive times in the history of Hearthstone. Zephrys the Great has revitalized Highlander decks, and when they can only run single copies of cards anyway, running lots of Legendary cards is a very attractive option. Saviors of Uldum is also the most Epic-friendly expansion we have seen, with more playable Epic cards than any expansion before it (you can find details in our Epic crafting guide).

However, even in the middle of all this, there are strong budget cards available for those who are willing to take paths less traveled. I spent two weeks building budget decks and working out which cards are viable even with a small collection, and there are opportunities to surprise your opponent with carefully curated synergies even in the current meta. In this article, I will focus on Neutral cards available to all classes, and next week I will take a more detailed look at class cards.

Reborn Minions Are Strong

Rise of Shadows was actually The Boomsday Project revisited for budget players. Mechs were the talk of the town, and you could build good budget decks for multiple classes using Mechs: something you did not really do when The Boomsday Project was current, because then there were even stronger options available. This was good for budget players, because Rise of Shadows gave very few new budget options.

In Saviors of Uldum, Mechs have finally met some competition: Reborn minions. For some decks, Mechs remain the strongest option, especially if you want to flood the board (Token Druid), but for many budget decks, Reborn minions can form a stronger core than Mechs. They are faster and usually more threatening, and very difficult to drive away from the board when they arrive in large numbers.

Reborn minions have a peculiar interaction with resurrect effects: even if the token minion without active Reborn effect is resummoned, it comes back with its Reborn effect fully ready to go again. In this sense, Reborn works like Divine Shield, where even if it is depleted, it is still a property of the minion. Many resurrect effects are expensive, but Redemption is one cheap example of a resurrect effect that works great on a budget with Reborn minions.

My favorite is the common trio of Temple Berserker, Candletaker, and Bone Wraith. They form a sweet curve from two to four mana, provide decent punch, and Bone Wraith protects the others upon its arrival, allowing them to better decide whether to go face or trade. This trio can be included in many budget decks as the core of the early game mana curve.

I have also experimented with Murmy and Wasteland Assassin, but Murmy tends to be too weak outside of Murloc decks and Wasteland Assassin is a little slow, although it is borderline viable. Khartut Defender is also affordable, but it typically goes in slow control decks that require lots of expensive cards to function: healing and stalling without a win condition is no good.

Murlocs Are Back

Speaking of Murlocs, both of the new Neutral Murloc cards are good. Murmy and Fishflinger form a solid opener for Murloc decks, and most older Murloc cards are cheap, too. The only Epics are Murloc Warleader and Nightmare Amalgam, and while you’d really want to have those Murloc Warleaders, the Nightmare Amalgams are completely optional.

Murlocs can give you the occasional win with any class, but they are at their best in Shaman, where you literally only need Murloc Warleader as an Epic card to build a top-tier deck. Murloc Paladin is the other top-tier alternative, but it is a bit more expensive to build to full strength, because it also requires Prismatic Lens and Tip the Scales and is further enhanced with multiple Legendary cards.

Zoo Is Never out of Fashion

Reborn minions work surprisingly well in Zoo decks, as does Serpent Egg, which is a great target for self-destruction and nice insurance against board clears. However, unless you can afford a Magic Carpet to boost your one-drops, Jar Dealer and Beaming Sidekick are not able to get much done.

Combo Priest Is Great and Cheap – but Not Completely Budget

Multiple cheap Neutral cards see a lot of play, but only within one archetype: Combo Priest. Injured Tol'vir, Beaming Sidekick, and Neferset Ritualist are strong cards, but a completely budget player cannot accomplish anything with them. The current Combo Priest is only good if it includes Psychopomps and High Priest Amet, and budget versions of the deck fail. Those are the only expensive cards in the deck, two Epics and a Legendary, so the deck is not expensive, but its cheaper tools are worthless unless you have those expensive pieces.

What About Epic and Legendary Cards?

None of the Saviors of Uldum Neutral Epic cards are key pieces in any deck. There are some that see play, such as Vulpera Scoundrel, but those are perhaps the 15th or 20th pick for their respective decks, not key build-around pieces.

As for the Legendary cards, they are more interesting, but still not deck-defining without any support.

Zephrys the Great is obviously a phenomenal card, perhaps the best card in the entire set. However, it requires a Highlander deck, and building a good deck around it may not be an easy task: Highlander decks routinely cost between 10,000 and 20,000 dust, because they tend to include multiple Legendary cards. While some of those can be replaced, Hearthstone overall does not have budget late-game cards, so in many cases there simply are no good replacements. This forces budget decks to go for more aggressive strategies, and the inconsistency of a Highlander deck is not a good fit with aggression, they are at their best as slow midrange or even control decks. Therefore, Zephrys the Great is not a great card for a budget player to craft early on.

Siamat is another interesting Neutral Legendary minion. It goes into several archetypes and classes, but it is not a deck-defining card. It’s a middle-of-the-pack late-game threat or removal piece. While it is easier to fit into a deck than Zephrys the Great, it is usually a support piece that requires the presence of other expensive cards that take the spotlight role.

King Phaoris is a potential win condition for control decks, but control decks require a number of other expensive cards as well. Phaoris alone cannot carry them, so it is another card that you should only craft once you have access to enough pieces to build the whole deck.

Best Cards for Full-Cost Decks and for Budget Decks Are Not Always the Same

If you’re just starting out and looking for the strongest cards to improve your basic deck, the fastest way to improve it is to start adding Reborn minions. Temple Berserker, Candletaker, and Bone Wraith are the first three Neutral cards you should look into adding.

Another option is to go for Murloc synergies, but then you need just about all the Common and Rare Murloc cards in the game: Murlocs are heavily dependent on numbers, and you need a lot of them to justify their use. Murmy and Fishflinger are key pieces in any Murloc deck.

Beyond these first steps, you should look into adding suitable class cards and crafting specific decks. I will take a deeper look at Saviors of Uldum class cards next week!