E.M.P. Operative

E.M.P. Operative Card

E.M.P. Operative is a 5 Mana Cost Epic Neutral Minion card from the The Boomsday Project set!

Card Text

Battlecry: Destroy a Mech.

Flavor Text

"I said this looks like a job for me
So everybody just follow me
'Cause we need a little E.M.P.
'Cause it feels so mechy without me…"

E.M.P. Operative Card Review

Crab of the expansion! Except that it’s not a Crab. Which is pretty sad, I feel like Crabs as hate cards are a meme at this point and they should release more. Even if it had the same stats and effect.

Compared to other Crab cards, it’s clearly inferior. Unlike a 1 man 1/2, or a 2 mana 2/3, 5 mana 3/3 is not really playable by itself. If you don’t hit a Mech, it’s absolutely terrible. It also doesn’t gain any stats if you do.

Whether this card will see play or not is basically a meta call. Like, let’s say The Black Knight – a card we haven’t seen in a long while that made a comeback recently. If meta will be full of Mechs, being able to destroy one for 5 mana while getting a 3/3 body on top of that will be solid. I guess that they didn’t want to make it cheaper, because other crabs are frustrating to play against, the early game tempo swing can be so massive that one crab can just win the game. But come on, 5 mana 3/3 is too weak. Even if it actually HITS a Mech, it’s still a weaker Vilespine Slayer, a card that has absolutely no restrictions (yes, it’s an amazing card, but you get my point).

This is absolutely terrible if it doesn’t hit and only “good” if it does, which makes it less swingy and more risky to actually put into your deck. Crabs were solid even if only 10-20% of the meta were playing Murlocs/Pirates, because they could be dropped as vanilla minions on the curve too. Not great, but usually not game-losing. This is basically a dead card in non-Mech matchups. So in order for this to see play, Mechs would need to completely dominate the meta, and I mean it – I doubt that I would put it into my deck if less than 50% of my matchups were Mechs. And if Mechs will be a thing, Big Game Hunter will often do a similar job to clear the Magnetized ones, while also working against a bunch of other stuff. So it seems like a very, VERY situational tech card, pretty bad in general. I absolutely can’t see Mechs dominating enough for this to be played.

Card rating: 2/10 in general, 6/10 if Mechs dominate the meta

Leave a Reply

42 Comments

  1. DukeStarswisher
    July 31, 2018 at 11:41 AM

    I think I would have preferred this card to be 1 mana more and say “silence a mech, then destroy it”. THAT would be the proper tech for this expansion I’d think.

  2. _
    July 31, 2018 at 4:03 AM

    the crabs may be cheaper and gain stats, but murlocks and pirates cant get as big as magnetic mechs, with id say this card is value if it can kill any magnetic combo

  3. Grant Thomas Miller
    July 30, 2018 at 7:54 PM

    From a meta that has a lot of otks, into (educated guess) another otk heavy meta. There is little incentive to run this if it does not resolve the issue of what seems like a tier 0 Druid meta.

  4. Blorp
    July 30, 2018 at 2:46 PM

    Blizzard: “Let’s make an overcosted warrior mech card with shroud on it”
    Also Blizzard: “Let’s make a minion that destroys a mech and bypasses shroud”

  5. Jed
    July 30, 2018 at 2:16 PM

    I mean it’s a tech card. What you gonna do.
    3/5

  6. Doxivus
    July 30, 2018 at 1:34 PM

    I think that cards like this will kill the already fragile valuable mech decks.

  7. minti
    July 30, 2018 at 1:21 PM

    Isn’t this card an expansion too early. Lets have at least one expansion where you can play mechs at ease without them being goubled :D. And release this the next expansion. And why are tech cards being al lepic. At start they were normal cards like the ooze. than they became rare ok, but now every tech card is epic?

    • Piterno
      July 30, 2018 at 3:20 PM

      Golakka Crawler was a rare

      • Bananana
        July 31, 2018 at 8:05 AM

        Which is exactly what minti mentioned, please at least read the comment?

  8. KLGamet
    July 30, 2018 at 11:51 AM

    Battlecry: Destroy Mecha’Thun and lose the game

    • Grant Thomas Miller
      July 30, 2018 at 7:45 PM

      Reread the card, deatroying meca’thun wins the game, it needs to be against an empty hand, deck and board.

      • DeadlyPants
        July 30, 2018 at 8:40 PM

        I THINK Mecha’thun only requires your own side of the board to be empty. The wording is unclear, but that’s my take on it.

      • KLGamet
        July 30, 2018 at 9:09 PM

        I meant it as a battlecry for the opponent, cause playing it yourself wont work

  9. GlosuuLang
    July 30, 2018 at 11:44 AM

    I like the card art and the reference to Science Vessels from StarCraft. But come on… the card is grossly understatted. It should at least be a 4/4. Like it is, I’d rather run BGH, which will kill the magnetized Mechs 90% of the time but also other targets like Lich King or Giants. Now, it’s true that this can be good in Arena, since we will probably see a lot of Mechs there and I suspect Magnetic can be pretty powerful in Arena. But in constructed this is not going to see play, unless Mech decks are busted like Pirates were with Patches, and I don’t think we’ll see that. 0.5/5 stats in Constructed in General, 2/5 stars if meta is infested with Mechs, 3.5/5 stars in Arena in Boomsday, since Mechs will be evrywhere.

    • MrPoison
      July 30, 2018 at 12:21 PM

      5 mana 4/4 destroy a minion? i dont think so, 5 mana 3/3 it’s pretty fair, its like a vilespine without the combo requeriment, but restricted to mech tag. and vilespine is played a lot in rogue decks. this meta, mech minions enchanced by magnetic will snowball, and this card is a heavy stop for them. 4/5, will see play.

      • GlosuuLang
        July 30, 2018 at 1:43 PM

        I will come back at the end of August to this comment. I can’t imagine people will include a vanilla 5 mana 3/3 which is useless against non-Mech decks.

        • MechaThun
          July 30, 2018 at 2:12 PM

          You are a potato

        • Grant Thomas Miller
          July 30, 2018 at 7:46 PM

          Its for arena. Bone drake is the most commonly drafted neutral. Turns out Dragon slayer deals with it really well. Having the body be bad is just fair for arena players.

      • Bananana
        July 31, 2018 at 8:08 AM

        Literally every anti-tribe tech card is statted MUCH better than even a 4/4, 4/4 would be perfectly fine.

        • MrPoison
          July 31, 2018 at 9:22 AM

          Well, as i see it, there are 2 anti-tribe crabs, Golakka Crawler and Hungry crab, anti Pirate and anti murloc as well, those two tribes does not have really high stats, i dont remember a murloc having mora than 5 health, or a pirate, and minions with low health are relatively easy to deal with, but mech will be different, they have the magnetic mechanic now, i can easily picture a mech having more than 6 hp so that means are heavy to kill. just look at zilliax, wargear or beryllium nullifier and remember they will be attached to other minions

  10. BiggityB
    July 30, 2018 at 11:36 AM

    Must have craft for first two weeks of new meta.

  11. Pppppp
    July 30, 2018 at 11:07 AM

    That’s a weird looking crab

  12. Helioshadow
    July 30, 2018 at 10:52 AM

    Mecha-Crab. Eh.
    I mean, it’s good against specifically mechs (and ESPECIALLY against the Magnetized ones). The lack of stats when compared to, say, Golakka Crawler or Hungry Crab is probably offset by the amount of mechs we might see in the next meta. Maybe if it read “Battlecry: Silence a Mech, then destroy it.”, it’d be playable considering the amount of deathrattle synergy the Boomsday expansion holds… But until then, I don’t really think this card will be played over, say, Shadow Word: Death, or even BGH for that matter.

    • Grant Thomas Miller
      July 30, 2018 at 7:47 PM

      Its only for arena, avid arena players will tell you that dragonslayer is stupidly broken.

  13. Bajula
    July 30, 2018 at 10:30 AM

    So… why doesn’t she have pincers?

    • Batton
      July 30, 2018 at 11:48 AM

      She is using E.M.P wich is a military technologie used for desactivating any electronical devices in the big lines.

      She doesn’t need pinces since she can uses just emp grenades, or a gun version, wich is the case on the artwork

  14. asdadsadasad
    July 30, 2018 at 10:25 AM

    Big Game Hunter for Mech

  15. CocoAsticot
    July 30, 2018 at 10:24 AM

    Really? Awfull stats, unplayable because it would be so weak against every non mech decks.
    Tech cards design like dragon slayer are more Clever imo.

    • Damnboyyyyy
      July 30, 2018 at 10:37 AM

      Dude like this maybe has worse stats but it destroys dragonslayer just deals 6 dmg and most of the dragons have huge stats and like a LOT decks will include mechs so this card in my opinion will see a play definetly

      • CocoAsticot
        July 30, 2018 at 10:48 AM

        I just say that s for me it s more a clever design tech cards that give a bit lesser effect but have better stats.
        A tech card that would be play should at least not have awfull stats that make it unplayable against others decks. Cause you dont choose your opponent on ladder.
        And look the 2 crabs have massive effect with bonus AND decent stat and are the only tribe tech cards that have seen play.
        3 mana 3/3 that silence a mech would have be more clever.

        • Damnboyyyyy
          July 30, 2018 at 11:01 AM

          Yea you got the point aboht the good stats because their effect is not always used but yet i think even though of bad stats this will be used against big mechs from paladin warrior and hunter

  16. Soup And Salad
    July 30, 2018 at 10:24 AM

    The quality of E.M.P. Operative will be proportional to the quality of Mech decks in the coming format. It is hardly a crab, but it is removal priced between Shadow Words: Pain and Death given the 3/3 body, which to destroy a potentially massive minion is hardly awful.

    It is a less optimal at least functional removal option for a Mech enhanced by Magnetic minions than Spellbreaker much of the time, but if there is a Mech equivalent to the Lich King or just a good number of Midrange quality Mechs that become prevalent on ladder, this will see some play.

  17. Freak
    July 30, 2018 at 10:17 AM

    Should have been a crab…

  18. HadNoIdeas
    July 30, 2018 at 10:17 AM

    Basically bgh with a barely changed stat line. Bgh is played on occasion. 3.5/5

  19. MilesTegF
    July 30, 2018 at 10:14 AM

    its mana cost is a little high, but i think will definitely see play considering how many good mechs (and magnetized mechs) are in this expansion.

  20. Morei
    July 30, 2018 at 10:10 AM

    I mean, cool, but is it going to be enough

  21. Blur
    July 30, 2018 at 10:10 AM

    Sombra, is that you?

  22. SupHypUlt
    July 30, 2018 at 10:09 AM

    Can’t agree with these type of cards being a tribe killer as epic.

    • Soup And Salad
      July 30, 2018 at 10:26 AM

      Epic rarity cards are usually ones that are more unique than most. While I do agree that tribe killers should not be epics since they’ve been done before, there still is no card that does exactly what this is doing.

    • Piterno
      July 30, 2018 at 3:23 PM

      Golakka Crawler is rare, dragon Slayer is common