Galakrond’s Awakening has officially launched last week. Chapter 1 has brought 11 new cards, which actually already had some impact on the meta. Winged Guardian is by far the most popular new card and it has brought Ramp / Embiggen / Dragon Druid (however you call it) to the new heights. From an off-meta / relatively unknown deck, it suddenly entered a rising trend, becoming one of the most popular (and honestly one of the stronger) decks. Chapter 2, which launches tomorrow, will bring 8 new cards to the mix. Will they make a big impact on the meta? And, more importantly, what new strategies / decks we might expect? Find more information below!
Check out our full Galakrond’s Awakening guides with all of the cards here.
Cards Released This Week:
Unlike last week, no chapter is free this time around. You have to buy them. Keep in mind that you DON’T have to pay 700g per side – buying it once will give you both sides.
League of E.V.I.L. Side:
League of Explorers Side:
Potential New Decks / Strategies
- Big Spell / Control Shaman – Eye of the Storm was already released last week, and now we’re getting The Fist of Ra-Den, and as you can imagine, those two have really good synergy. There’s a chance that a Shaman deck built around Fist with a bunch of big spells will pop up. The issue is, however, that it would completely rely on drawing Fist and then any weapon removal would counter it. I think that a more likely scenario is running it in Control Shaman, which is not completely built around it. Between Eye of the Storm and Earthquake or possibly Rain of Toads, there’s a chance to summon a bunch of big minions over time for just 4 mana.
- Talking about Shaman, Explosive Evolution seems like a good fit into some sort of Midrange/Token build, it also combos nicely with Zentimo, but the issue is that this kind of Shaman is in a dumpster right now, so I don’t think that’s going to matter. If the card was absolutely broken it would be a different story, but it’s only alright – especially since we don’t really have a card that it can be combo’d with (Mogu Fleshshaper is still there, but it’s already harder to combo it with 0 mana Mutate, let alone a 2 mana card like this one).
- Elemental / Jan’Alai Mage – Arcane Amplifier seems to be a really decent minion. It has good stats for the cost (2/5 are probably the best stats on a 3-drop that you want to stick, although 3/4 are probably better overall), Elemental tag and a solid effect. As long as it stays on the board, it turns your Hero Power into Darkbombs, and that’s obviously great. It should fit into some sort of Elemental Mage, but the issue is that the deck is basically non-existent right now. It’s also the last chance for Jan'alai, the Dragonhawk to shine – between Amplifier and Daring Fire-Eater, it might be its time to come back. And last, but not least, it might also simply slot into Highlander Mage, because it’s a solid card.
- Dragon Priest – Here’s the thing, Cleric of Scales is an INSANE card. Not only it’s a 1 mana 1/1 “draw a card”, it lets you Discover it and it narrows down the pool to spells only. Priest spells tend to be situational, and Cleric lets you pick the one you need at a given time. The card is just great. However, Dragon Priest itself is not in the best shape. It will certainly improve it, and I’m pretty sure that some players will test it, but will it be enough? Also, will we see some kind of Combo/Dragon Priest mix? Because Cleric of Scales would be one of the strongest cards in Combo Priest – drawing your Circle of Healing when you already have the other Cleric and Pyromancer, or drawing Divine Spirit when you’ve already set up a minion for it etc. Plus you would be able to get it from Bwonsamdi, the Dead. But you need some Dragons to make it work.
- Zoo Warlock – Fiendish Servant seems like a great 1-drop to put into a Zoo build, both Galakrond and non-Galakrond versions. In Galakrond build, you can use it to activate Egg or add more damage to a token in order to trade up or just push more face damage. In non-Galakrond, it has AMAZING synergy with Magic Carpet – you Charge a 3/1 minion that gives another minion +3 Attack on Deathrattle. Permanently. However, I’m looking towards Galakrond build more, since it seems stronger right now. While nerfing Fiendish Rites slightly hit it, Fiendish Servant (which even has a similar name) should sort of make up for it.
- I don’t think that other cards will make any impact. Hailbringer is like a Neutral filler (an okay one, but I don’t expect it to be played right now). Rising Winds is solid, but doesn’t really fit into the current Druid archetypes (it would be great in Quest version, but Quest version is basically unplayable right now). And Skyvateer seems… pretty mediocre, to be honest – Stealth is weird with such stat-line and effect, so outside of the Pirate tag it’s very similar to Loot Hoarder. In fact, most of the time I’d prefer Loot Hoarder, because if I run a 2-drop that draws I usually want to draw, and it might be impossible to run it into something and kill it off at times. It’s only better vs Token-heavy decks where it can potentially clear 2-3 one health minions.
Bosses / Encounters This Week
League of E.V.I.L.
League of Explorers
So if both sides cost 700 gold, then we did not get 1 wing for free last week, we actually overpaid.
Players who aren’t going to buy it got one wing for free – buying players did “overpay” in a way, but they have added 3 bonus cards to the paid wing to compensate for other being free. So free wing had 4 cards, paid wing had 7 cards.
Rising Winds probably boosts Embiggen Druid as a draw engine. You trend to run out of cards with this deck…
The problem is that 4 mana to draw 2 cards is not an amazing draw engine, and 3/2 from the spell obviously won’t benefit from Embiggen. The flexibility is – of course – a big upside, but I think that the card would only REALLY shine in Quest version. Then there’s an issue of fitting it – what would you cut to play it?
And I honestly didn’t have card draw issues when playing the deck. Played it like 15 times so far (I know, not a huge sample size, but I didn’t have much time lately) and ran out of cards maybe once or twice. It has a pretty high curve for a Midrange deck, plus it has Big Ol’ Whelp and Emerald Explorer.
Yep, agreed. Embiggen is rising in popularity RN and the only bad matchup I had is Quest Resurrect Priest. If you play on curve as a midrange, don’t need to draw many times. I’m playing almost Druid mirrors, Dragonmaw Poacher is a good tech? Stats say no, for the moment..
If you face Druid mirrors commonly then I’d say that Poacher is a very good tech. Mirror is all about gaining a tempo edge over the opponent, the deck has basically no comeback mechanics so if you get ahead on the board you will be able to dictate all the trades and get even further ahead or even just kill the opponent over 2-3 turns. And, obviously, 4 mana 8/8 with Rush is a great tempo tool 🙂 E.g. you can clear their T4 Evasive Feywing and still get an 8/3 on the board. The issue is, of course, that the card is really bad against builds that don’t run many Dragons or don’t run Dragons at all. So you really need to look at your own matchup stats before deciding whether to play it or not (just like with any other tech card).
I know it’s been said before, but Token Druid is tier 2 or 1 depending on who you ask. This card is just Firefly but a worse statted minion but the flexibility of drawing a card. Never underestimate the power of Firefly. Yes, this is worse but still token druid loves its tokens. It also is fantastic with Keeper Stalladris and like you said Quest Druid. I seriously think you underrated this card. It probably just slots into Tier 1/2 Token Druid, so that makes it five stars already.
First of all, I rated RIsing Winds 7/10 when reviewing it, and I certainly don’t think I underrated it. I mentioned Token Druid specifically when reviewing it, saying that the card will be good in the deck. If you mean 5 stars out of 5 stars, then that’s definitely not it, or at least not in the way I rate cards. For me, a card rated at max has to be an absolutely amazing one, a metabreaker, not just a “solid card that fits into a a single, good archetype”. If you rated it 5/5 (or 10/10 in my scale) it would mean that it’s on the same power level as pre-nerf Corridor Creeper or Giggling Inventor, for example. And there’s no way that’s true.
But in this comment chain we were talking about Embiggen Druid, not Token Druid.
I got Rising Wings last night off a discover while playing my Elise/Nomi Quest Druid deck (please don’t judge–I was completing a daily!), and it did feel good to be able to draw a little faster while also dropping a little pressure.
Yeah, Quest Druid will totally dig the card, 2 mana 3/2 that draws a card and adds another 2 mana 3/2 that draws a card to your hand… it’s really great. And in the worst case scenario you could even play it on T3 to summon something against Aggro or draw against Control (e.g. to look for Nourish) if you have nothing better to do.
The only issue is where to fit it, that’s always the problem at the end of Standard year when there’s just so many cards.
I have been having a lot of fun with embiggen dragon druid last week, and I think rising winds can help the deck. As you pointed out you rarely run out of card (most of the time you can only play one card at a time anyway). But it can help one of the weakness of the deck it’s early game. You have very few minion in the first turn and this one has the benefit that it won’t be pulled later from strength in number. And later 2 card for 4 mana is not that bad, it’s branching path good. It can make me put back Ysera back in the deck.