Year of the Phoenix is coming to an end, and Year of the Gryphon is starting soon. With the recent news about the introduction of a Core Set, it will also be the biggest rotation in the history of Hearthstone, given that a big part of Basic/Classic set is also out.
Standard rotation is always a massive event. With three expansions (this time 3 expansions + adventure) dropping out of Standard, its impact on the meta cannot be overstated. The sets that we’re losing (Rise of Shadows, Saviors of Uldum and Descent of Dragons + Galakrond’s Awakening) had a lot of staples that we’ve seen in nearly every single meta since their release. Those cards disappearing means that multiple archetypes will cease to exist, which will, in turn, create space for new decks to rise up. It’s also important that Core Set will contain “only” 235 cards, compared to 380 from the Basic + Classic, so we’re “losing” another 140+ cards there. Even though we’re gaining 135 cards from Forged in the Barrens expansion, Standard players will still have access to around 450 less cards than they do right now. Of course, not all of the rotating cards have seen play, but a substantial amount of them did.
In this article (or to be more precise a series of three articles), I will showcase some of the important cards that are rotating out. What qualifies as “important”, you might ask? Cards that have seen a decent amount of meta play, were key to certain archetypes’ existence or are just good standalone cards that would probably see play after rotation. Cards that have only seen play in meme/off-meta decks or just didn’t see much play at all are excluded. I also didn’t add cards that have previously seen play, but become unplayable after some syneriges already rotated out or they got nerfed. Yes, the definition is not clear, but I’ve tried my best to include cards that will be most missed from the standpoint of post-rotation Standard format. If I forgot about a certain card, let me know in the comments and I’ll add it.
Part 2 – Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter, Mage and Paladin Cards
Priest
Priest is the class that has already seen a big rework to Basic/Classic last year, and it was… okay, I guess. Most of the card buffs / nerfs / rotation were justified, but the new cards didn’t really see much play with a couple of exceptions. Let’s see how things hold up with Core Set.
There’s only one Basic card rotating out – Shadow Word: Pain. It hasn’t been a mainstream removal in a while, mostly because Priest simply had better options and we didn’t have that many low attack / high health targets (remember that back in the day it could remove e.g. Voidlord), but it was certainly a viable option in Priest’s arsenal and now it’s gone.
When it comes to commons, the biggest loss has to be Penance. It was a go-to early game Priest removal for a while now. 3 damage could deal with most of the low cost minions, and healing for 3 really helped against Aggro. Thoughtsteal has seen quite a lot of play ever since it got buffed to 2 mana – getting 2 cards for 2 was solid (even though you sometimes got useless stuff you couldn’t really take advantage of), and it was staple mostly in Highlander Priest. Silence is interesting, it was mostly a meta call, but in general it was one of the better Silence options in the game simply because it costed 0. You could also get some extra synergies with card like Wild Pyromancer or Sethekk Veilweaver (which, notably, doesn’t rotate out yet). Disciple of Galakrond was a part of Galakrond package, since Galakrond rotates out, it’s going to be useless. And finally – Grave Rune was more of a “cheese” card, but the entire deck it was played in (Resurrect Priest) is sort of cheese, so yeah.
The loss of those Rares is going to hurt all different archetypes. Convincing Infiltrator and Mass Resurrection are gone, so Resurrect Priest is no longer – at least until Blizzard prints more Resurrect cards. Forbidden Words was a really cool single target removal – it was never “the best”, but its flexibility meant that it could be used on nearly any turn to some effect. Breath of the Infinite was an amazing early game board clear – 2 damage for 3 mana is solid already, and didn’t hit Priest’s minions when they had Dragon in hand (which in some builds was very common). Talking about Dragons – Cleric of Scales wasn’t the best Dragon synergy we ever had, but it was nice. 1 mana 1/1 that tutored a spell is not something you mind. Shadow Madness was another interesting removal – after it got buffed to 3 mana, it became a viable option and it often ended up removing 2 minions + possibly even gave Priest some extra effect (like Deathrattle). Mass Dispel was mostly a tech card – AoE Silence with cycle has been quite alright in certain metas. And finally, Time Rip was sometimes a part of Galakrond package.
Epics will also hurt across the board. Starting with Psychopomp, a card that was a staple in both Resurrect Priest and in Tempo/Combo Priest before that, those sort of strategies will suffer now. Cabal Shadow Priest has seen quite a lot of play ever since Wave of Apathy was printed (the combo let Priest steal any minion) – but in this case it’s not the end of the world, because Cabal Acolyte is still in Standard. Plague of Death has been the “ultimate” board wipe, played in some Control, Resurrect or Highlander builds ever since it was printed. And again – Fate Weaver was sometimes played in Galakrond builds, discounting entire hand by 1 is obviously a very strong effect.
When it comes to Legendaries, by far the biggest loss has to be Murozond the Infinite. It was one of the best tools in Priest’s arsenal – every time your opponent had a blow-out turn, you could just copy it and do the same. You could even combine it with Animated Broomstick to give all the minions Rush and get some great trades right away. Galakrond, the Unspeakable was played in many different builds – sometimes with Invoke cards and sometimes by itself. Being a removal on Battlecry + infinite value generator, the card was nuts in slow matchups – at least until slow decks had actual win conditions and stopped relying on value only. Catrina Muerte was, obviously, a Resurrect Priest staple. It was a great card to just drop on the board, since it nearly always was 2 for 1, but it was also amazing to keep reviving since it gave you more and more value. And finally, both Madame Lazul and Mindflayer Kaahrj weren’t so much “must-have” Legendaries, but they were just well-rounded, solid additions to Control & Highlander builds. You never really felt that they won you the game, but they both helped Priest to gain some advantage (value / intel in case of Lazul and tempo in case of Kaahrj).
Looking at the Priest’s new Core Set, it seems that Blizzard wants to cut down on the card generation and give the class some actual win conditions, such as the “Shadow”, damage-dealing package. We’ll see how that works.
Rogue
Sap is the only Basic Rogue is losing, but it’s a pretty big one. While not always a meta card, whenever opponents tech in big Taunts or play expensive minions in general, it comes in handy to gain a major tempo advantage.
When it comes to Commons, the loss of some of them is huge. The Classic Eviscerate is most likely the worst one – easy to activate 4 damage for 2 mana has been a Rogue staple ever since the game’s release. Losing it is a big loss to Rogue’s burst and removal potential. Then, we’ve goth Pharaoh Cat and EVIL Miscreant – both played in most of the Rogue builds ever since their release. They’re similar in a way that they have sub-par bodies for the cost, but add some extra value to your hand. In case of cat, it was one Reborn minion – which is a pretty solid pool of minions to pull from. And in case of Miscreant – it gave you two Lackeys, which then either let you rebuild some tempo or give you even more value. Losing those two means that Rogue will have a much harder time refilling the hand while putting some bodies on the board. Then we’ve got Bloodsail Flybooter – a card that would most likely see much more play if not for the Pharaoh Cat. It’s also a really nice 1-drop that adds two more 1/1’s to your hand. Those 1/1’s can either be played to fill some awkward turns or to activate Combo effects. Hooked Scimitar is a loss to Rogue’s burst potential – it was commonly played in Aggro builds… however, now that Self-Sharpening Sword is in the game, Scimitar is no longer THAT necessary. Hench-Clan Burglar was, at times, a part of “burgle” or “thief” package, played in a few different builds. And finally – Praise Galakrond! was a staple in Galakrond Rogue – a build that was dominating the meta for months, but got taken over by other versions recently.
Looking at Rares, most of the cards lost will be bearable for Rogue players, those aren’t exactly the most powerful class cards after all. Underbelly Fence & Vendetta were pretty big for a long time, showing up in some Tempo Rogue builds as a part of burgle/thief package. Both were really nice tempo options – 2 mana 3/4 with Rush and 0 mana 4 damage removal. However, to get them working you needed to play card slike Hench-Clan Burglar and alike. In the end, the package was too big and it got cut completely. Plague of Madness doesn’t seem like much, but it was a quite common tech card. Mostly used by aggressive builds in “extra damage + weapon removal” capacity. Giving your opponent a 2/2 weapon with Poisonous wasn’t a big deal, because you played small minios anyway and didn’t mind them taking damage to clear them. Dragon's Hoard was played in many Tempo Rogue builds back in the day, mostly as a value generator + Combo activator – right now it’s mostly played in Highlander builds. And finally, Seal Fate was a staple part of Galakrond builds, but I’ve already covered those earlier.
We only have a single Epic rotating out, but it’s big. Whirlkick Master hasn’t seen any play for a long, long time… basically until Darkmoon Faire, when we’ve reached a critical point, with so many Combo cards and synergies that it was worth building a deck around it. Thanks to cheap combo cards (e.g. Prize Plunderer, Wand Thief, Brain Freeze) and a card that makes some of the more expensive ones cheaper (Foxy Fraud), you can easily chain 4-5 Combo cards in the same turn later in the game. Thanks to that, Whirlkick Master becomes a massive tempo push + value generator in one. Losing it will be a big hit to the class.
And now Legendaries… Rogue got some really nice options, and we’ll start with the Classic Edwin VanCleef. Up until its nerf to 4 mana, it was played in nearly every single Rogue build for the last… 2 years? Like yeah, it was THAT good. Even now at 4 mana, it’s still playable in Whirlkick Rogue – not every build runs it, but it’s quite common. You can still drop a cheap 10/10+ minion – usually just a turn later (or a bit smaller). Flik Skyshiv has made it back to the meta recently – it’s a great removal with a body. Just clearing one minion while putting a 4/4 in play is good enough, and the fact that it can sometimes either clear multiple minions or get rid of a key card for your opponent (if it’s in their hand – they basically discard it) is a cherry on the top. Then we’ve got Galakrond, the Nightmare + Heistbaron Togwaggle combo. Like I’ve said, Galakrond decks were dominating the meta for a long time, even until the card got nerfed, and Togwaggle did help with that – since you could generate Lackeys so easily, you could nearly always drop Tog on T6 or T7 and gain a really powerful card, such as 3 mana to draw 3 and reduce their cost to 0.
All in all, Rogue is losing some really key cards, but I think that the class should do fine. Decks that relied on putting constant pressure while generating more resources – such as Combo Rogue or Galakrond Rogue – will no longer be a thing. But both Aggro and Secret builds should survive the rotation after switching out some cards.
Shaman
Two Basic cards Shaman is losing kind of share the same theme – attack buff. Back in the day, both used to be played in Aggro/Token builds – one as a way to trade up or deal more damage (Flametongue Totem) and one as a finisher (Bloodlust). Ever since Flametongue got nerfed to 3 mana, it didn’t see that much play, but it was sometimes played in Totem Shaman builds. As for the Bloodlust – similar story, hasn’t see THAT much play lately, but it’s sometimes teched into Aggro or Totem builds.
Now, the Commons Shaman is losing are more impactful. Starting with Surging Tempest – it didn’t see as much play as it could (because frankly it’s an amazing 1-drop) mostly because Aggro Shaman decks weren’t popular, but whenever a more aggressive build popped up, Tempest was in it. EVIL Totem is another pretty important card – while it doesn’t do much by itself, it’s really solid in Totem strategies. If it sticks to the board, it will keep generating more value (and tempo, because some Lackeys are high tempo) – and you can make it stick with all sorts of Totem buffs. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s Walking Fountain, one of the best cards Control Shaman builds have got in years. It’s a late game powerhouse, mostly against strategies that simply want to kill you (Aggro, Midrange). You can often kill two small minions, heal for 8 AND still have a body on the board. Sandstorm Elemental is quite simple, really – a small AoE with an okay body for the cost + 1 Overload. It was mostly played in Quest Shaman, but it was sometimes seen outside of it. And Mutate – a card that used to be a solid Evolve Shaman option because of its 0 mana cost. It was usually combo’d with Mogu Fleshshaper to get a random 8-drop (before nerf) or 10-drop (after nerf).
Well, Rares will be a massive hit to multiple strategies. Maybe let’s start with Control, because it’s probably losing most. Both Hagatha's Scheme and Earthquake were good removals played in Control builds. The former was great, but needed some time to wind up. It was often 10+ removal late in the game when it was really needed. And latter was 7 damage for 7 mana – the fact that it was in two hits means that you could deal with small Deathrattle summons or Divine Shield / Reborn minions too. Control Shaman relied heavily on those AoEs. Then we have Mogu Fleshshaper – anyone playing a gainst Evolve Shaman knows why it was so damn strong. A really bad card by itself, but because of its high mana cost Evolving it produced a random 10-drop (or 8-drop before nerf). Given that you could often do it in the mid game, that’s obviously really good. Then we’ve got more aggressive trio of Sludge Slurper, Storm's Wrath and Lava Burst. Mostly played in faster builds – one is a great 1-drop, one is AoE board buff for decks that go wide (like Aggro/Totem) and the last one is a solid burn finisher. Finally, while Mulroc builds haven’t been played in a while, Underbelly Angler was the biggest reason why Murloc Shaman was pretty solid for a while. The card was so good that it has seen some play even outside of Murloc decks – I kid you not.
Looking at the Epics, I see more hits to Control Shaman. Both Far Sight and Witch's Brew were staples. Far Sight was good, because it could let you cycle through the deck and “bank” your mana during a turn you had nothing to do anyway. Witch’s Brew, on the other hand, was a great anti-burn tool. After you stabilized, you could easily heal to full. And with Diligent Notetaker, you could technically play up to 4 copies of it. Splitting Axe was a Totem Shaman staple. Since you played multiple Totems, having a weapon that duplicates all of them was great. With a perfect curve of T2 Totem (e.g. EVIL Totem) into T3 Totemic Reflection into T4 Axe you could often win the game just like that. And lastly, Cumulo-Maximus – which notably has seen much less play than I thought it would – was pretty common as a curve topper in Aggro decks that ran some Overload cards. Being a 5 mana 5/5 that deals 5 damage – well, you could use it either as a way to dominate the board, go through a Taunt or just deal more face damage.
When it comes to Legendaries – Vessina is probably the biggest loss overall. The card was like a mini-Bloodlust, but with a body. She was a staple in aggressive decks playing enough Overload – just buffing 2-3 minions was good enough, and that wasn’t hard. If your opponent had no way to remove her – well, that was often game over. Corrupt the Waters Quest has a lot of play, but it was a while ago, when Shudderwock was still in Standard. Finishing it is easy, and then duplicating any Battlecries played is a big deal – you could gain lots of value, tempo etc. this way. More recently, it was played in OTK form, but it was an off-meta build. And finally – The Fist of Ra-Den, which is a SORT OF meme card. Some players tried to play it with 1-mana spells to summon a bunch of Reliquary of Souls and then shuffle multiple Prime versions. But obviously, it wasn’t the best idea. In the end, it has still seen play in Control Shaman, but more “seriously” – mostly just to gain extra tempo after playing big removal spells.
All in all, it’s hard to say how Shaman will look after rotation. Outside of the brief times when Evolve Shaman has been dominating, the class hasn’t really been doing that well this expansion. It loses a lot of key cards that made some strategies work, but at the same time, it’s getting some serious buffs in Core Set. So we’ll see where Blizzard decides to take it.
Warlock
Going through the Basics first, only two are notable – Soulfire and Voidwalker. Both were staples in Zoo Warlock. The first one is used mostly as a burn finisher, but sometimes to get some extra tempo on the board or activate Discard synergies. The second one is… well, a 1 mana 1/3 with Taunt – that’s already good enough in a deck like that. Demon tag also gives it some extra synergies (one of the most recent ones being Kanrethad Ebonlocke).
Now onto Commons. Let’s start with Sense Demons + Aranasi Broodmother combo, because to be fair, those two were usually played together, in the same deck. Aranasi, while weak as a minion, healed Warlock for 4 when drawn – it’s really strong given that a) slow Warlock builds need healing, b) slow Warlock builds draw a lot, and c) some builds could shuffle the card back into the deck to take advantage of the effect again. And Sense Demons in particular was often 3 mana to draw 2 cards (albeit weak) and heal for 8 – not bad at all. Similarly, Abyssal Summoner was commonly played in slower Warlock decks. Since those builds draw a lot of cards, you could easily get let’s say an 8/8 Taunt for 6 mana. And then you’ve also got a 2/2 body, so even if the Taunt was removed you still had something for your trouble (although not a whole lot). Then, we’ve got Neferset Thrasher, which is on the opposite side of the spectrum. Until recently, the card has seen a decent amount of Zoo Warlock play, mostly in builds that ran self-damage synergies. However, the obvious downside is that it’s harder to play in a really aggressive meta, that’s why it got replaced by other 3-drops (such as Man'ari Mosher, which does the opposite). And lastly, Rain of Fire is a card that didn’t see play the way you might think. It wasn’t (for the most part) used as an early removal, but rather a part of the combo finisher with Malygos in Quest Warlock. Cheap 6 face damage and emergency removal with Malygos on the board.
Then Rares. We have some really heavy hitters there. Maybe let’s start with board clears in a few different flavors – Plague of Flames, Shadowflame and Crazed Netherwing. Shadowflame is the oldest one, because it’s from Classic. It hasn’t seen much play in recent expansions, but it was a pretty common Warlock removal across the years. Mostly played in Handlock / Even Warlock, paired with cards like Giants which could be played for cheap for massive AoE clear. The best thing about it is that you could control the AoE size depending on which minion you sacrifice. Then, Plague of Flames was working best in slower decks that could drop a few bodies on the board. It was an auto-include in Galakrond Warlock because of its Hero Power (and thus Invoke). And finally, Crazed Netherwing was played in a few slower decks, where a small Dragon package was pretty common. 5 mana 5/5 with Hellfire slapped into it was, of course, amazing in the right scenario, combining removal + tempo. Tallking about removal, another huge loss is Nether Breath. While really weak when not active (2 damage for 2 mana), when you were holding a Dragon, it was a 4 damage spell you could use either as a removal or burn. AND it healed for a lot. Often combined with Mo'arg Artificer to double the damage / healing on minions. You could even play two and heal for 16. Then, there’s Expired Merchant, another common Zoo card. Given that you played a really low curve deck, you could easily hit a specific card that you wanted to double (e.g. Flesh Giant) or Discard (Hand of Gul'dan), making it a perfect early/mid game play… unless Silenced etc. but that’s pretty uncommon. Plot Twist was used in Quest Warlock to a) finisher the Quest faster and b) look for the specific cards – it was frankly the main reason why Quest Warlock was even a viable deck at times. And finally, Dragonblight Cultist is a Galakrond Warlock staple. At the very least it’s a 3/1 + 2x 1/1 for 3 mana, and the main body often had much more attack.
There aren’t many Epics, but oh boy, one of them will really hurt Warlock. I’m talking about Dark Skies, which was the class premium single target/AoE removal mix. Given that slow decks usually skipped early turns (or rather drew more cards with Hero Power), Dark Skies could easily be 7+ damage when played on curve. It would often clear the entire Aggro board, or it could be kept to answer a single bigger minion later (or even a mix of both – e.g. a 5/5 and a 3/3 later in the game). It’s a big hit to slow builds. Then we’ve got Diseased Vulture, which just like Neferset Thrasher was usually played in “self-damage” (also known as “Pain”) variants of Zoo. It could easily create a big board under the right circumstances, but it was cut to make the deck a bit more flexible in aggressive metas. And finally, Veiled Worshipper was a must-have in Galakrond Warlock. After all, invoking Twice wasn’t a big deal, and then a 4 mana 5/4 that drew 3 cards was nuts even in a deck that already drew a lot.
Now, looking at Legendaries, honestly, Warlock didn’t have many good options in Year of the Dragon. Some of them have seen play, but it was either brief or in weaker variants of the deck (as in cutting them increased the win rate) – those examples include Arch-Villain Rafaam, Dark Pharaoh Tekahn and Valdris Felgorge. The two cards that have seen much more play, in many different expansions, and were actually quite successful at times are Supreme Archaeology and Galakrond, the Wretched. Granted, Quest Warlock was an off-meta deck for the majority of its existence, but it had its moments – e.g. the Malygos combo variant had seen a bunch of competitive play. As for the Galakrond, we briefly had “Galakrond Zoo Warlock” tried out, but players have settled for slower versions. Even right now some of the most popular (and highest win rate) “Control” Warlock builds are based around him.
Overall, Warlock is losing some important cards, but things are looking much worse for the Control variants than for the Zoo. Zoo is only losing a couple of great cards, and it has most of its current build intact. You’ll have to cut 2-3 cards and that’s all. But Control is losing everything across the board – single target removal, AoE removal, healing, win conditions. The good news is that Lord Jaraxxus is getting a big upgrade (no longer brings you to 15 health AND gives you 5 Armor), so it might serve as the Control Warlock’s new win condition.
Warrior
Lookin at the Basics, Warrior already will suffer from some heavy losses. Shield Block was the class staple – played in nearly every single Control build. Turn 3 was often awkward anyway, as a slow deck you didn’t have much to do, so gaining some extra Armor while cycling through your deck wasn’t a terrible play. And later in the game it could be used to activate Shield Slam or just gain more life. Kor'kron Elite was really common in more Aggro / Midrange versions of Warrior. It was one of the last good Charge cards in Standard, and has seen even more play recently now that it could be combo’d with Bloodsworn Mercenary for a big damage burst. And Arcanite Reaper was mostly a Pirate Warrior thing – 10 damage for 5 mana ain’t too shabby, even if it comes with some limitations. It was also an amazing weapon to buff (just giving it +1/+1 increased the total damage by up to 8).
Some of the commons lost are also hard to swallow. Let’s start with the biggest loss – Battle Rage. Originally it was played only in certain, specific decks that wanted to damage their own minions, but over the last year or so it has seen play in all kinds of Warrior, including Control builds. In the late game, you could easily draw 4+ cards from it, which is a big deal for 2 mana. Then we’ve got Inner Rage – one of the best “Enrage” activators. I guess that with Frenzy as a new keyword, it would be a bit too powerful. Sky Raider was played in any faster Warrior deck – a solid 1-drop body with added value is never a bad thing, even if you don’t run any specific Pirate synergies outside of Ancharrr. And EVIL Quartermaster was a really solid Control card because it combined some tempo (2/3 body), defense (3 Armor) and value (random Lackey). Those Lackeys often came in handy, no matter which one you’ve got.
When it comes to Rares, and probably all Warrior cards in general, Risky Skipper is the most important one rotating out. It was played in nearly every single Warrior build for the last year. The ability to clear the board while using your minions AND activate all kinds of on-damage synergies (Armorsmith, Bomb Wrangler, Bloodsworn Mercenary) was a huge deal. Warrior could often swing an Aggro board around while gaining 20+ Armor in the process, often sealing the game completely. Another big deal is Upgrade!. Any weapon-based Warrior deck loved this card. It added more damage and extra durability, which translated to more hits and possibly more effect triggers for some weapons. The most prominent deck using this card is rotating out, but it will be a hit to a potential Pirate Warrior build. Bomb Wrangler I’ve already mentioned with Skipper is another solid card that has seen a lot of play in Enrage Warrior builds. Since you could damage your minions quite easily, you would often summon a bunch of Boom Bots. Even just dropping it on 3 without any other synergies, it was a better Harvest Golem (since a 1/1 Bot is way better than 2/1 without effect). And now we’re moving into more niche cards – Skybarge, Plague of Wrath and Dimensional Ripper. Skybarge was obviously an auto include in Pirate Warrior, but Pirate Warrior hasn’t seen a lot of play in the first place. Plague of Wrath used to be a staple in certain slower builds, but has mostly disappeared – it turns out that it wasn’t that necessary with all the other removal at Warrior’s disposal. And Ripper was a Big Warrior staple – since you only played high cost minions, summoning e.g. 2x Rattlegore or 2x Scrapyard Colossus was a really big deal. Even better if you summoned two Archmage Vargoths and then 4 more big minions thanks to their effect.
Epics are basically all staples. Bloodsworn Mercenary is probably the biggest loss. It was really easy for Warrior to damage a minion, so having a 3 mana Faceless Manipulator with an extra body was very good. It was used in all kinds of tempo and combo situations. Some of its best uses included duplicating Armorsmith during Skipper combos, being a part of E.T.C., God of Metal / Kor'kron Elite combos as well as duplicating Rattlegore as a win condition in slow matchups. Then we have Wrenchcalibur, which was THE reason why Bomb Warrior existed in the first place (and remained a part of the meta for multiple expansions). You played it alongside a few weapon tutors, buffs and synergies in a Control Warrior shell and it became your win condition. You often ended up shuffling 10+ Bombs into your opponent’s deck and then your goal was to stay alive long enough for them to explode. This strategy will no longer be possible in Standard. And last, but not least – Livewire Lance. While not as impactful as Wrenchcalibur, it has seen a lot of play in all kinds of Warrior decks – from Aggro to Control. Lackeys are generally good cards to get, so 3 mana 2/2 weapon that gave you two extra Lackeys was a pretty nice thing to play.
And now Legendaries – once again, some of them will be very hard for Warrior to swallow. Maybe let’s start off with Ancharrr, which went hand in hand with Risky Skipper and more recently Sword Eater. Those Pirates were good enough to play in your deck already, and with Ancharr you had a way to tutor them. Drawing 2 cards for 3 mana is the baseline anyway, and you’ve also got a 2/2 weapon basically for free. Then we’ve got Deathwing, Mad Aspect – the strongest Deathwing card in the game so far. It was usually used in slow decks as a combination of board clear and big threat. After removing a bigger minion or a few smaller minions, you often still had let’s say a 12/4 body left that your opponent had to deal with. And even if not, what was usually an 8 mana board wipe ain’t the worst thing ever. Then, Blastmaster Boom was a must-have in Bomb Warrior. Since you shuffled so many Bombs into your opponent’s deck, most of the time it was nearly always a much better version of the old Dr. Boom. Summoning 4 or 6 Bombs was quite often, and that – obviously – was a massive play. If opponent didn’t remove them – you had a lot of damage on the board. If they did AoE – they usually took a lot of face damage in the process. Most of the time dropping Boom was a win-win situation for you. And finally – Galakrond, the Unbreakable. Interestingly enough, we had SOME Galakrond Warrior builds played back in Descent of Dragons, and they were really good… until its main synergy card – Scion of Ruin – got nerfed. But even after that, it was commonly played without any Invoke cards – just with Kronx Dragonhoof (or not even him), as a late game win condition in slower matchups. Your +2 Armor Hero Power was pretty useless when your opponents weren’t exactly damaging you, so turning it into +3 damage gave you a tangible win condition. Most prominent in Bomb Warrior, it gave the deck even more damage against those pesky Priest or in Warrior mirrors.
As you can see, Warrior is losing A LOT. It was one of the best classes in Standard for a while now – it always had some viable decks, and usually at least 2-3 different ones at the same time. A lot of those strategies will be rendered useless by the rotation and it’s hard to say what future holds for the class. Core Set still has some nice staples, like Shield Slam or Brawl, but will Control Warrior still be viable with most of its win conditions gone? We’ll see.
Bye Bomb War, Bye GalaLock, Rez Priest :_(