Descent of Dragons Card Review #4 – Sanctuary, Flik Skyshiv, Valdris Felgorge, Chromatic Egg, Chenvaala, Dragonqueen Alexstrasza and more!

Descent of Dragons is the upcoming Hearthstone expansion! Reveal season is in full force now, so it’s time to continue card reviews!

In this article, I’ll take a closer look at the newly revealed cards, reviewing them and rating from 1 to 10. The scale itself should be quite obvious, but just to quickly explain how do I see it: A card rated 5 is average – it might be playable in some decks, but it’s nothing special. Cards below 5 might see some play in off-meta decks, or as obscure techs, but the closer we get to 1, the lower chance it is that they will see play. When I rate card 1 or 2, I don’t believe that it will see any Constructed, non-meme play at all. On the other hand, going above 5 means that I see the card as something with more potential. While I can’t guarantee that it will work out in the end, I believe that the cards with 6-8 are likely to see at least some Constructed play, while cards rated 9 or 10 are, in my mind, nearly sure hits. 1 and 10 are reserved to the worst or best cards I can imagine, meaning that they won’t be used often.

Remember that with only a handful of cards seen, it’s incredibly hard to review them accurately, since we have no clue what synergies will be printed or which themes will be pushed. I advise you to pay more attention to the description than the rating itself – I will try to explore some of the potential synergies and reasons why a given card might or might not work. I also encourage you to share your own predictions and reviews in the comment section. Even if you aren’t sure, don’t worry, no one is! There is nothing wrong about being wrong, I have never seen anyone who nailed most of the card ratings before the release. But, without further ado, let’s proceed with the reviews!

Check out our other card reviews:

• Descent of Dragons Card Review #1 – Galakrond Hero Cards, Invoke Cards, Malygos, Nozdormu, Ysera, Deathwing, Waxadred and more!
• Descent of Dragons Card Review #2 – Breath Cards, Dragon Explorers, Dragonbane, Phase Stalker, Learn Draconic, Toxic Reinforcements and more!
• Descent of Dragons Card Review #3 – Talritha, Shu’ma, Galakrond, the Unbreakable, Nether Breath, Amber Watcher, Kronx Dragonhoof, Veranus, and more!
• Descent of Dragons Card Review #5 – Ancharr, Kobold Stickyfinger, Cumulo-Maximus, Zzeraku, Nithogg, Bandersmosh, Frizz Kindleroost and more!
• Descent of Dragons Card Review #6 – Stormhammer, Kaahrj, Chronobreaker, Platebreaker, Embiggen, Goru, Dragonmaw Poacher, Murozond and more!
• Descent of Dragons Card Review #7 – Wing Commander, Storm’s Wrath, Sky Claw, Galakrond the Tempest, Rolling Fireball, Mana Giant and more!
• Descent of Dragons Card Review #8 (Final) – Violet Spellwing, Elemental Allies, Skybarge, Aeroponics, Skyfin, Squallhunter, Tasty Flyfish and more!

Zul’drak Ritualist

It’s not the first time when we have an overstatted Taunt that summons something for your opponent. You don’t have to look much further than Cornered Sentry or Hungry Ettin. They have never seen a lot of play – Cornered Sentry was playable mostly because Warrior was also running a lot of Whirlwind effects at the time, but it was never a powerful staple. Zul’drak Ritualist, however, seems like kind of an overkill. Sure, it’s a 3/9 Taunt for 4 mana (so you get +4 health compared to Sen'jin Shieldmasta), but summoning three 1-drops for your opponent is a lot. You definitely DO NOT want to just play it in any deck, because on average if you remove the attack of those 1-drops, you end up with a worse Sen’jin, not to mention all kinds of extra effects or synergies your opponent might be getting.

Does it mean that the card is useless? Not necessarily. For one, you can have some combos yourself. You can, obviously, combo it with Mind Control Tech, but given that 3 targets will be 1-drops, it’s not very good. You can also combo it with some AoE to clear them right away, probably alongside other minions your opponent might have. But those aren’t really worth it given that at best you’re gaining a few health points on your 4-drop Taunt. There’s one cool niche that this card might fit into, though – messing with revive pool. This card just screams anti-Resurrect Priest. Every Mage or Shaman players knows how good it feels to Polymorph or Hex something they will keep reviving, and this is similar. Adding three 1-drops to the pool means that cards like Psychopomp or Mass Resurrection became way, way worse. The deck loses one of its main win conditions.

Is it a necessary tech in upcoming meta? Hard to say. After N'Zoth, The Corruptor rotates out and the overall power level increases heavily, I don’t think that Resurrect Priest will stand much chance (unless it gets some powerful new cards too). But it’s always good to have such tech, especially since you can also use it in Wild – and let’s be honest, Big Priest was a problematic deck for a long while (even after Barnes got nerfed, you can still see it relatively often, and we don’t know what the future will bring). Talking about Wild, Druid can also use it with Oaken Summons, plus later in the game it has some synergy with Spreading Plague. I’ve seen Druids using one Hecklebot sometimes, and this might replace it. Not a big deal and won’t suddenly make decks good, but still.

Card rating: 2/10 as a standalone card, 8/10 tech vs Resurrect Priest

Sanctuary

That’s… actually pretty good. As much as I didn’t like other quests, this can be really strong in many cases. Summoning a 3/6 Taunt for just 2 mana is a very strong tempo play. While it might seem more like a control card, I actually think that it might fit more into aggressive builds – something like Highlander Paladin comes to mind. Playing it on T2 against a slower deck nearly guarantees triggering it, and having a 3/6 minion up so early will make a huge difference. Control decks might not want it, because a) they usually take damage every turn throughout the early/mid game against Aggro and b) against other Control decks that extra tempo from 3/6 won’t matter that much. You can theoretically combo it with Time Out! to guarantee a 3/6 Taunt, but… I don’t think that Holy Wrath Paladin can fit Sanctuary in, nor that it needs to.

Of course, the card is far from perfect. In Aggro mirrors, you can play it only if you have board advantage, so it’s a win more card. If you don’t, your opponent will just send some damage into your face every turn and it will not trigger. Aggro mirrors are usually very explosive in the early game, and the player getting tempo advantage is in a good position to win the entire match. That’s why this card can be amazing or terrible, depending on the situation. If you play it early and your opponent won’t let you trigger it, it will just put you further behind (because you wasted 2 mana & a card for nothing). But if you will be able to get it done, then you have a very high chance to win. Even vs slower decks, the card won’t be that crazy in the mid/late game anyway, because the extra tempo gained from a 3/6 Taunt won’t be nearly as big. It’s also not a great topdeck, but let’s be honest, most of the cards aren’t great topdecks in Aggro builds.

It also creates some interesting dynamics – 4 classes have Hero Powers that can deal face damage, which they can use to delay the trigger… but also potentially waste mana. Using 2 mana to stop it for a turn is a lot, not to mention that there can be better targets for those Hero Powers. But delaying it can be crucial sometimes if you can’t deal with a 3/6. For example, Mage pinging face instead of a 2/1 might be a good play with this Sidequest!

I like the design, to be honest, and I think that it’s a nice Sidequest, but ovverated by some. Whether you want to use it or not will heavily depend on the meta – it will be much better in a slower meta. If there will be some good decks with early game tempo that can poke you with some damage early to stop it (like let’s say the current Quest Shaman) then it won’t be playable. If most of decks will skip T1-T2, then it will be great.

Card rating: 6/10

Flik Skyshiv

Flik Skyshiv is a reallllly strong card. I would like to call it Vilespine Slayer 2.0. I think that, on average, it is about on the same level as Vilespine. Yes, it’s 1 mana more expensive, which is actually a big downside in Rogue. But on the other hand, it’s Battlecry and not Combo, so it’s more consistent, it has +1 Attack (irrelevant, but still) and the effect can be very useful at times.

The baseline is easy to rate – 6 mana 4/4 Assassinate on a stick would already be most likely playable. Rogue likes to play minions with removals attached, because they are a great way to swing tempo – you remove something AND put a minion into play at the same time. The added effect, however, is what pushes it into “great card” category. Here are a few examples where the extra effect will come handy: Your opponent has two copies of the same minion on the board already (happens) – you clear both in one swing. Your opponent plays a single minion that summons a copy of itself (Tomb Warden, Oasis Surger) – you clear both. Your opponent has a single copy of a minion on the board and a second one in hand – you clear the one on board and remove a card from their hand. Your opponent has a single powerful minion on the board and it’s a card that you don’t really want to face again – you remove it and it disappears from their deck. Your opponent played some spell that generates multiple tokens – Shaman’s Rain of Toads or Druid’s The Forest's Aid – you clear them all in one swing. In a similar fashion, it’s a great Chef Nomi counter – you target a token and you only face a single 6/6 instead of seven 6/6’s. Opponent has shuffled an extra copy (copies) a minion to their deck in order to combo you… bam, you get rid of all of them (RIP Pogo-Hopper, it’s not like the deck was supposed to be good anyway, but still).

The only downside I can think of is that sometimes it will also destroy your own minions, because it does NOT specify that it only affects opponent. For example, you face a Rogue that plays a big Edwin VanCleef while you already have your own on the board… then destorying theirs will also kill yours. But honestly, I think that those will be much more niche scenarios and you will be able to more or less play around them most of the time.

Of course, may times it will be just a 6 mana 4/4 “destroy a minion”, but like you see, the extra effect might come handy more often than it might seem at first. I think that Flik will be auto-include in Rogue until it rotates out. Even the baseline scenario is good enough (7/10) and the extra effect just pushes it over the top.

Card rating: 9/10

Valdris Felgorge

Alrighty then. I honestly did not expect that. It’s a card that changes basic rules of the game – a first time that we can change the limit of the cards we can hold in hand. The first thing I started to wonder about is how it will look from UI perspective. I mean, 10 cards already look packed in your hand, especially on mobile, I wonder if they will display differently or something. But then when I started to think about power of the card itself – I don’t think that increasing your card limit is that powerful. Yes, you can drop 1 mana Giant in the late game, or get +2 extra health on your Twilight Drake, but those things honestly aren’t that important. 3 mana Giant was already good enough and you didn’t want to put too much on the board anyway, so you rarely wanted to play too much alongside that Giant. And yes, +2 health is nice, but the difference between 4/11 and 4/9 is not that big. If it just increased your hand size to 12, it would be pretty useless, but… It also draws 4 cards. Yes, I know that it’s Warlock. Yes, I know that the class has easier time drawing cards than others. But it’s still a Sprint with a 4/4 body AND an extra effect which can come handy sometimes. That’s massive.

The most obvious deck that it fits into is a Handlock. What I like about it is that you can drop it with 8 cards already in hand, draw 4, and still don’t overdraw. Normally Handlock tends to have hand size problems when playing card draw – this will sort of negate those, and let you hold more options at the same time (which also means that you can hold more dead cards without them clogging your hand too much). Yep, the card is good. But the problem is – is Handlock good? While it’s still too early to tell, I think that the answer might be negative. Right now the deck doesn’t seem good. This is a nice addition, but not a win condition. If a deck is already bad, drawing more cards won’t make it good. The other card I’ll review below will definitely help a bit, but given how many power plays other decks are getting, I don’t think that Handlock will necessarily shine.

However, lots of people unfairly put Valdris only into a Handlock build, while in reality the card can be uses even in faster builds, as a refill. While you wouldn’t put it into the Zoo Warlock we know right now, because it’s just too slow, if Zoo would slow down a bit, maybe then. I’m not sure whether Galakrond, the Wretched build would want it (since it definitely runs 2x Veiled Worshipper already anyway), it might be the case – after turning into Galakrond you can no longer draw with your HP, so having a big refill can work well. Also, if Dragon Warlock will be a thing, it will probably be a sort of slower Midrange or even a Control build – so Valdris could be used in that one too. In those cases, the 12 cards hand limit will often get wasted, but so what? It might come handy in fringe cases, but ultimately it’s still a 7 mana  4/4 that draws 4… Plot Twist Warlock is probably another deck that would like it, but this time it might use the hand limit too. But I don’t have any real hopes for Plot Twist Warlock unless they absolutely surprise me with last Warlock reveals…

Again, I think that it will be a great support card for Handlock and refill card for some other builds. But it will NOT make those builds viable – they need to be good in the first place in order for this card to see play. But given its power level and that it will stay in Standard for a while, I do think that it should see at least a bit of play – if not now, then eventually.

Card rating: 7/10

Abyssal Summoner

Yeah, this is clearly a Handlock card. If Handlock will be playable – this will also be playable. In the most generous scenario (assuming regular hand size, more about Valdirs later), this is a 2/2 + 9/9 Taunt for 6 mana, which is bonkers. Of course, “raw stats” are not always an option, but in this case a few things are working for you. First of all – you get so much more stats than you normally would. For a 6-drop, vanilla stats are 6/7. Maximum you can get out of it is 11/11 in total, spread between two bodies (although one is disproportionately small, which is not perfect). Even a less generous example – a 2/2 + 6/6 Taunt is still better than vanilla stats, and you need “only” 7 cards in your hand, which is a normal hand state for Handlock. Another good thing is Taunt – a simple big pile of stats is often too slow, a big pile of stats with Taunt is suddenly much better, because unless Silenced/Sapped etc. opponent has to kill it first to go through.

The card has clear synergy with the one I’ve reviewed above – Valdris Felgorge. Not only Valdris draws 4 cards, increasing the size of Taunt you’re summoning the turn after, but also increasing max hand size to 12 means that you can summon up to a 11/11 Demon – so 13/13 stats in total for 6 mana. That’s absolutely amazing, and a reason why those two cards will be a great fit in Handlock.

One thing I wonder about is whether all the extra stats on this Demon will be “base” stats or “buffed” stats. It matters a lot, because it will probably be a common Silence target. The difference is that if they’re base stats – Silencing it will only get rid of the Taunt. If they’re buffed stats (such as Twilight Drake‘s Helath), they will also disappear, making the card much more susceptible to Silence. If Silence will be common in the upcoming meta, that’s a pretty big difference.

The main downside I’m seeing is that a big Taunt is most useful against Aggro, and against Aggro it will be considerably smaller than against Control, since you can’t Life Tap that much (not only you need to play more for the tempo, but you also want to preserve health at one point so you won’t die to burn / charge). It should still be a decently-sized Taunt lots of time, but there are matches where you have only a few cards in hand in faster matchups. And let’s say summoning a 3/3 Taunt on top of a 2/2 body for 6 mana is… just bad.

All in all, whether this card sees play depends on whether Handlock sees play. If I had to guess, I would say that Handlock will be tried out, but it won’t be one of the best decks – the power level of the entire meta shapes up to be so high that the poor, old Handlock might not be able to catch a breath on the ladder. This is a good card, but it’s just another big threat, that’s not exactly what Handlock needs (he already has a bunch of those). Maybe the way to go would be to play Dragon Handlock instead? I mean, what Handlock needs are more solid board clears so Aggro won’t be able to overrun you and some healing, especially a healing/removal combo… and both of those are covered with Crazed Netherwing and Nether Breath. That might be the way to go. But if you want to fit a Dragon package, will you have enough space to play this guy then? Not sure about that.

Card rating: 8/10 in Handlock, but 5/10 overall given that I don’t think that pure Handlock will be that amazing next set

Chromatic Egg

Chromatic Egg is a bit like Mechano-Egg… but with a surprise inside. While it might seem random, thanks to the discover and the fact that Dragons tend to have big bodies, you are very likely to discover something good. After doing some quick maths, you have over 80% chance to get a good option, such as 7/7 with Taunt and Elusive, 8/8’s, 4/12’s or even 12/12’s. The chance to absolutely low-roll and get only bad options is just a few %. Of course – it might happen, but on the other hand, you might

The most interesting thing about Chromatic Egg is “secretly” part. Your opponent not knowing what’s inside can make him play poorly by triggering or not triggering it in certain cases. In case of Mechano-Egg, he knows that to expect – an 8/8. If he clears the Egg, he will have removal for 8/8 prepared. But in this case, he might be ready to clear an 8/8… and then a Malygos pops out and surprises him. Not knowing what’s inside might also mean that your opponent will be forced to trigger it even if he shouldn’t be afraid. Let’s say that you absolutely low-roll and discover a Faerie Dragon. Normally, even if you play a deck that can trigger it a few times, he would just ignore it. It’s a waste of resources. But since he doesn’t know, he might waste a card (let’s say Dyn-o-matic) to clear it, worrying that you might trigger it a few times.

Of course, this is just a cool addition and won’t have a big impact that often – it’s still more important what you get than what your opponent sees. And in case of what you get, I still think that the card is too slow & clunky to see play. The only realistic way is to run it in a deck that can trigger Deathrattles. Right now that deck is Deathrattle Rogue, which might seem like a solid deck to try out given that it has also got a new solid 4-drop – Necrium Apothecary… until you realize that those two have terrible synergy. Yep, Apothecary can draw the Egg, but then it won’t gain its Deathrattle, because until the Battlecry resolves, it has no Deathrattle to speak of (it was similar with Carnivorous Cube). On the other hand, it has a solid synergy with Anka, the Buried, because playing it as a 1 mana 1/1 is so much better than a 5 mana 0/5. So in the end, it’s a big maybe.

But overall, to follow up on the Mechano-Egg comparison… Mechano-Egg would see no play if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s a Mech. The only reason it’s playable is because you can Magnetize onto it and  then revive it with Kangor's Endless Army. Without those, the card would be bad. That’s why I don’t think Chromatic Egg will see play in any deck without some ways to trigger it… then it might be a better Mechanical Whelp. But I don’t think that such a version of Deathrattle Rogue will be good.

Card rating: 3/10

Dragon Breeder

It’s a cheap, vanilla-statted minion (2 mana 2/3) with a solid upside… to be honest, I would be really surprised if it didn’t see play. You can easily drop it on T2 if you need tempo against aggressive deck, and it has an amazing mid/late game scaling. Essentially “drawing” a card is a solid value, but it’s even better, because lots of the Dragons have powerful, potentially game-winning effects. Let’s say Druid’s Ysera, Unleashed – if it sticks, copying it and playing it again can be massive. Warlock’s Crazed Netherwing? Why not. Mage’s Malygos, Aspect of Magic? Yeah, you will gladly take that another upgraded spell. And so on, and so on.

Zola the Gorgon was a solid card to play in many decks when it was still in Standard, and in Dragon decks this is basically a better Zola… not only it’s cheaper, but it also has better stats. Zola was a bad T3 play even if you needed to drop something vs Aggro, this is passable.

Another interesting synergy is one with Fate Weaver. Thanks to the new Priest’s card, it was already possible to discount your hand by two… not you can discount it by 4. Okay, it was already possible, but other cards were much worse – e.g. Youthful Brewmaster took the card out of the board (while Dragon Breeder only copies it), while Baleful Banker might have taken multiple more turns to draw.

Overall, seems like a no-brainer in Highlander Dragon builds (since they have more card slots), but slower, regular Dragon builds should also want it. Not only Dragon decks – if some other, non-Dragon deck will run a specific Dragon they need as a win condition, or in some sort of combo, this will be a good card. There’s really no downsides to it, to be honest.

Card rating: 8/10

Scion of Ruin

It’s a bit sad, that the card leaked ahead of time – Kibler was supposed to reveal it yesterday, but he didn’t have time to prepare his reveal since he got sick. But HS Japan still included it in their “card reveal recap” blog post… so yeah, there we have it. Maybe he gets another one to reveal instead. But as for the card:

Uhh… okay. I was pretty sure that Galakrond Warrior will be a thing during my last review. Now it’s gotten even more crazy. What more will we get? Some insane Invoke class cards on top of everything? Even without those, I’m pretty confident that the deck should work well. “After you Invoke twice” cards are all strong, I agree, but this just fits into the type of deck Galakrond Warrior wants to play perfectly. Summoning 3x 3/2 with Rush for just 3 mana is nuts, because it’s so much tempo. You can use it just as a board refill, to clear three small minions, to clear one big minion, to clear some midrange minion and still have a 3/2 leftover… and so on. That’s insane.

You know what’s also insane? The fact that Galakrond, the Unbreakable draws 4 cards when fully upgraded and gives them +4/+4… so if you manage to draw this (and it will happen quite often), you now have 3x 7/6 with Rush. For 3 mana. Yeah, exactly.

Since it has Rush, you can also draw it with Town Crier. Might not seem like a huge deal, but every aggressive deck needs 1-drops, and that makes Town Crier absolutely perfect. On the one hand, you might not want to draw it so early with Town Criers, because then you won’t be able to give it +4/+4 with Galakrond… but I think that consistency is more important than high-rolls. And it’s a Dragon on top of that. Not sure if it will be relevant, like if Galakrond Waririor will want to run Dragon synergies too, but it’s a possibility.

The only reason why I don’t give it 10/10 is that it’s pretty bad on the curve. You won’t be able to Invoke twice so early, and a 3 mana 3/2 with Rush is… playable, but not something you actually want to play given how good it will be later. So it will probably sit dead until mid game. That’s not a big deal, though. It’s too early to tell whether Galakrond Warrior will be Tier 1, but at this point it looks AT LEAST viable.

Card rating: 9/10

Chenvaala

It’s interesting to see them print more Cyclone Mage support. While the deck was dominating in Rise of Shadows, it quickly became a niche deck in Saviors of Uldum (Highlander build was just better), and then gutted completely with Luna's Pocket Galaxy and Conjurer's Calling nerfs. While the deck has rightfully received a lot of hate, I was a big fan of the basic playstyle of hoarding lots of cheap spells and then unleashing a powerful turn (although it should have been more balanced). And now the deck has got Dragon Soul in minion form! The card is so much better in Mage than it was in Priest.

Chenvaala is interesting and it will definitely slot into that deck. It’s known for dropping lots and I mean lots of spells in the same turn. You should be able to summon even two 5/5’s at times with this card. Of course, adding 3 extra mana to your Mana Cyclone turn can hurt, but… this is an Elemental, so Elemental Evocation can make it cheaper. It will make it insane during those long Sorcerer's Apprentice turns. Drop Sorc for 2, Evocation this, play a bunch of 0-1 mana spells, get a few 5/5’s… and then drop Cyclone for a good measure. That’s a dream. In fact, I wonder whether it has to be on the board from the get-go in order to get the effect. Like, let’s say that you play Evocation, drop this, and then play 2 more spells. Will it summon a 5/5? Because it was already on the board when you cast your third spell for the turn… I would imagine that it should, but I can’t be sure. So you could do something like Evocation + this + 2x Ray of Frost for only 3 mana and then get a 2/5 and a 5/5 on board on Turn 3 + potentially get another 5/5 next turn if it doesn’t get removed.

Oh yeah, about it getting removed – I think that it should be pretty sticky. Just dropping it on T3 straight up might even be a possibility. At 5 health, it’s pretty difficult to remove. And against faster decks, it can get some solid trades thanks to high health. It also has a soft Taunt, since enemy won’t likely just ignore it and go face… and if he does, that’s his loss.

This is clearly a good card in Cyclone Mage, but… The problem is that Cyclone Mage is in a rough spot. It’s a terrible deck in the current meta, and this card alone definitely won’t change that. Mage still has A LOT of cards left to be revealed, so it’s all up to those. If they decide to push Cyclone Mage once again, then yeah, Chenvaala will be awesome. But given how powerful the entire expansion is, they would need to print some absolutely crazy cards for that to happen.

Card rating: 8/10 in Cyclone Mage, but unless they print A LOT of Cyclone Mage support, it’s realistically a 3/10 card, because the deck is really bad now

Dragonqueen Alestrasza

This card has caught me off-guard. I completely didn’t expect another Highlander synergy this set. I thought that Zephrys the Great and the four class Highlander Legendaries are the only ones we’ll have for a while. And to be honest, they did work well. Highlander Mage used to dominate the meta early before it got nerfed, Highlander Hunter was one of the most consistent decks throughout the entire expansion (but it fell off a bit after the Wild cards got introduced), and Highlander Paladin was also a solid deck in the second half of the set after people have figured out solid builds. Only Highlander Druid wasn’t played, but the truth is that lots of Quest Druid build played Zephrys and Elise the Enlightened anyway, so yeah… They were a massive success overall, way bigger than most of people have predicted.

And now this. Given that it’s a Highlander synergy card, and a good one at that, it will certainly be an auto-include in Highlander builds. I can’t imagine a Highlander deck NOT wanting to run it… maybe an Aggro version of Highlander Paladin, but to be honest, most of the more Midrange builds would also love it. 8/8 minion seems to be a bit expensive at 9 mana, but don’t get fooled, it’s anything but a slow card. Getting two random Dragons and making them cost 0 is a big tempo push. While we do have some small Dragons, they generally tend to be big and powerful. Remember that in Descent of Dragons we’ve got A LOT of new, big Dragons, including all of the class Legendary Dragons and – of course – Alexstrasza herself. And to be honest, even the new Dragon Explorers (which Discover another Dragon) aren’t the worst ones to get, since they still provide some extra tempo and add more value to the hand at the same time. Even assuming a below average scenario of getting 8/8, another big Dragon (let’s say 4/12) and one small Dragon (let’s say 2/3), that’s still 14/23 worth of stats spread across three bodies. Heck, to be honest, even an absolute low-roll of 2 small Dragons is passable. Not great, and not on the level of other Highlander cards, but then think about the high-rolls. Getting another copy of herself, or a card like Ysera, Unleashed will be nuts. Same goes for Malygos in a deck running some spells… It’s scary to even think about. That said, I would imagine that the card should be pretty consistent on average. And there’s definitely a much higher high-roll potential than low-roll potential.

While you don’t need to play a DRAGON Highlander deck to run Dragonqueen Alexstrasza (she will probably slot into every Midrange or Control Highlander build), I would imagine that doing it will make her even better. To be honest, all of the Highlander classes are getting some Dragon synergies, so that’s a possibility. I was already thinking about Highlander Dragon Mage just because of Malygos, Aspect of Magic and Alex is another reason to do it.

With another Neutral Highlander card, players might also consider building other Highlander decks. I mean, Zephrys alone has already produced decks like Highlander Warrior or Highlander Zoo Warlock. They had, on average, slightly lower win rate then their non-Highlander counterparts, but they held up surprisingly well. Now with Alexstrasza, there will be another big incentive to run Highlander builds with non-Highlander decks. We’ll see how it works, but there’s some potential.

All in all, it’s another very strong Highlander card. Probably not as good as Zephrys, but should still be a nearly auto-include.

Card rating: 9/10 in Highlander decks