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Into the Emerald Dream First Impressions from Theorycrafting

By: Old Guardian - - Updated:

The Standard rotation of 2025 and the first expansion of the year, Into the Emerald Dream, will launch on March 25. We got the first taste of the new cards yesterday when many Hearthstone content creators had a chance to play with the new set in advance in the theorycrafting livestream event.

These promotional events are focused on the new cards, and every deck has to include at least 10 cards from the new expansion. Therefore, they are not fully indicative of what the new meta will be like. They do give us some insight as to which new cards are strong.

I had the chance to play in the event for six hours, and in this article, I try to evaluate some of the new cards and themes based on this experience.

Imbued Hero Powers and Malorne

Six classes – Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, and Shaman – have access to Imbued Hero Powers in the Emerald Dream. When they first Imbue their Hero Power, it changes to a new class-specific power that is then upgraded with each new Imbue.

There are two Neutral cards that can Imbue a Hero Power, and most classes also have two class cards that can Imbue their Hero Power. Without Discovering or copying the effects, this limits the upgrades to eight for most classes. Paladin has access to 10 upgrades because Goldpetal Drake upgrades the Hero Power both as a Battlecry and a Deathrattle. Druid is a special case because Hamuul Runetotem causes your Hero Power to be upgraded for every two spells you cast.

Druid can Imbue their Hero Power extremely consistently, but I sometimes struggled with the other classes. Paladin is the second-best thanks to the Drake, but it is not uncommon to struggle to find one or two of 8 cards in a 30-card deck in the first few turns, even if you hard-mulligan for the Imbue cards.

My occasional struggles with Imbue piqued my interest enough to math it out: if you hard-mulligan for the Imbue cards, you have a 90% chance to find one at the start of the game, and around a 75% chance to find two in time to play the 4-cost synergy card Resplendent Dreamweaver on curve (if you have the mana to play the Imbue cards first). However, activating Malorne the Waywatcher that requires you to have Imbued four times is somewhat more difficult, with classes other than Druid and Paladin only able to do it on curve around half of the time.

On the topic of Malorne, I found the card to be really strong, and an absolute must to include in Druid and most likely also in Paladin. The difficulty I experienced in activating it makes me doubt how good of an inclusion it is in the other Imbue classes. It is a Beast, which means that Hunter can discount it, so it has something going for it there. Tentatively, I don’t plan to use it in the other classes when the expansion is live.

Imbue Druid

Druid has the easiest time Imbuing their Hero Power: Hamuul Runetotem and a bunch of Nature spells are all you need to start growing bigger and bigger green men from your Hero Power. Here is Clark’s take of the archetype:

Imbue Druid – ClarkHELLSCREAM – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Deck Import

Between lots of cheap spells, tokens, a potential triple buff from the Choose Thrice ability of Forest Lord Cenarius and a Discovered Wild God from Malorne the Waywatcher, this Druid deck has the potential to rapidly overwhelm its opponents.

Imbue Dragon Paladin

Dragon Paladin with the Imbued Hero Power felt like a strong and fairly straightforward deck to play. Here’s En_Djinn’s version from the event:

Dragon Paladin – En_Djinn – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Deck Import

The Imbued Paladin Hero Power shuffles Emerald Portals into your deck. When drawn, they summon a random Dragon with a cost equal to the number of times you have Imbued your Hero Power. These portals grow in strength as you further upgrade your Hero Power, and this applies to all Portals already in your deck. Therefore, you take any opportunity you have to get the first Portals into your deck, keep upgrading your Hero Power, and eventually tutor some of those Portals with Dragonscale Armaments and Dreamwarden. Three-cost Dragons can give you more copies of Goldpetal Drake to further Imbue your Hero Power, and four-cost Dragons start to add some significant stats to the board.

Ursol is an incredible late-game play that can give you multiple turns of Renewing Flames or multiple sets of Dream cards from Shaladrassil.

Imbue Beast Hunter

Hunter’s Imbued Hero Power makes a random Beast in your hand cheaper and gives it more attack. As the Hero Power is upgraded, you start to get some crazy discounts and a ton of potential damage: I destroyed full-Health heroes with a single attack with Goldrinn during the event!

Here are a couple of Imbue Hunter decks from the event, from DenimBlue and Sidisi:

Imbue Beast Hunter – DenimBlue – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Deck Import

Imbue Beast Hunter – Sidisi – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Deck Import

Hunter has access to many Beasts that synergize with handbuffs: Mythical Runebear, Verdant Dreamsaber, Undercooked Calamari, King Plush, and Malorne the Waywatcher. The archetype can pull off some incredibly powerful moves with some of them.

Imbue Mage

Imbue Mage was one of the most interesting archetypes in the event. It did not feel particularly strong, but it flashed moments of brilliance and a wide range of possible approaches. I saw pure Imbue Mages, aggro variants, and Imbue/Protoss hybrids.

Turning the Mage Hero Power into a Wisp-summoning machine that also deals damage to random enemies has interesting implications for Zilliax buff synergies, for empowering Aessina, and for reducing the cost of The Ceaseless Expanse.

I played a bunch with the archetype, but felt that my ability to draw multiple Imbue cards was the most determining factor for winning games. That was with various pure approaches that fully embraced the new cards. Others commended the Protoss and Aggro approaches, and while I won most games against them, they may be strong in the long run. This will be one of the most interesting archetypes to refine, as it can take so many different approaches to winning the game and do so at very different speeds.

Imbue Aggro Mage – Otsu – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Sideboard

Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (2)

Deck Import

OTK Priest

There is also life beyond Imbue in the new set. For example, Languagehacker played this OTK Priest deck in the theorycrafting event:

OTK Priest – Languagehacker – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Deck Import

Aviana, Elune's Chosen is an obvious combo enabler, and Priest has a good number of tools to stall the game until they can pull one off. In this deck, Tyrande allows you to play multiple buffs from Shaladrassil onto a Zealot summoned by Artanis, and Chillin' Vol'jin can transfer those stats onto a second Zealot for two big bursts of Charge damage. If there’s something on the way, The Ceaseless Expanse or another Dream card can solve such obstacles.

It’s probably not going to be the next meta tyrant, but there is still some life left in combo decks too.

Leech Death Knight

Death Knight’s main mechanic in Emerald Dream is Bloated Leech. You summon these little buggers with Infested Breath, Sanguine Infestation, and Hideous Husk, and then they will suck the life out of whatever enemy is at the lowest Health. If the enemy Hero is the lowest Health enemy, they will suck the Health from underneath the Hero’s Armor too.

There is a lot of potential in the Leeches, but there are only a few cards that summon them and they are very fragile. They are scary for the opponent because any Leeches alive on the board become a major threat if there’s ever a Hideous Husk added to the mix.

I did not see a well-refined Leech Death Knight list yet. I gave this recipe deck a spin myself, and had some decent results. It can serve as a starting point for further refinement:

Leech Death Knight – Recipe Deck – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Deck Import

Deathrattle Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter is getting some Deathrattle support in Emerald Dream, particularly Ravenous Felhunter and Ferocious Felbat. Combined with the Starship piece Arkonite Defense Crystal, these Deathrattle cards can form a long loop that summons many Defense Crystals and consequently gives you a ton of armor.

Here’s what Jambre brew around this concept for theorycrafting:

Arkonite Deathrattle Demon Hunter – Jambre – Emerald Dream theorycrafting

Deck Import

New, More Board-Centric Standard Year?

Overall, the new meta felt very different compared to today’s Hearthstone. Obviously, having to use 10 new cards always has that effect to an extent, but this time there’s also the Standard rotation and the Core set rotation that change things a lot. A lot of power is leaving the game with Titans on their way out and Core set losing most of its win condition cards.

The game felt noticeably slow and board-based, even more so than in the previous theorycrafting events. I am wary of predicting that this will be the new meta, but it definitely feels like there will be a big change coming. If you are looking for a different feel, the new expansion is worth checking out when it arrives.

Old Guardian

Ville "Old Guardian" Kilkku is a writer and video creator focused on analytic, educational Hearthstone, and building innovative Standard format decks. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OldGuardian Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/old_guardian

Check out Old Guardian on Twitter or on their Website!

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