Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Card Review (Part Two) – Small-Time Recruits, Wickerflame Burnbristle, and More!

Stonekeep is back with his second Mean Streets of Gadgetzan card review for the initial reveal!

More Card Reviews

• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Card Review Part Three
• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Card Review Part One

More Information

• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Guide and Information
• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Card List

Small-Time Recruits

Aggro Paladin draw mechanic. You wouldn’t really want to play it in any slower deck, because you won’t run as many 1-drops to make it consistently draw 3 of them. I’d say that this is a less greedy version of the Divine Favor. Less risk, but less reward.

Drawing 3 cards for 3 mana is really great. 3 card draw costs 5 mana – Nourish – and for 3 mana you get to draw only 2. However, this has a little twist – you don’t draw any cards, you draw 1-drops. So the value of the cards you drew is most likely pretty low. This means that it’s not a very impactful draw – using it in the late game won’t likely give you much staying power. However, it gets one big advantage over Divine Favor – it’s way better in fast matchup. Divine Favor is a dead card against Aggro decks, at least most of the time. Sometimes you can’t even cycle it. This will never be useless – if you draw it in the top deck war against another Aggro deck, you get a big advantage.

One thing I also have to mention is that it removes the worst cards from the pool of potential draws. Let’s say you cast this on turn 6 – at this point you don’t want to draw 1-drops anymore. You want buffs, weapons or finishers. By immediately drawing three 1-drops, you increase your chance to draw something better quite significantly.

I think that this card might see play in Aggro Paladin. The question is – will Aggro Paladin see play?

• Constructed rating: 4/5 (Good) in Aggro Paladin, sucks in slower versions.
• Arena rating: Varies heavily depending on the deck. If you draft the Aggro Paladin with a lot of 1-drops, it’s good. If you don’t – it sucks.

Wickerflame Burnbristle

I’m always excited for the low cost Legendaries. Since most of them are high mana, with clearly powerful effects, I’m curious what they can think of for the 1-3 mana ones. On the one hand, it has to be something really unique. And on the other, it can’t be too strong. This one seems right about in the middle – it’s pretty unique effect, but not something completely crazy. And it’s also quite strong, but not broken.

Taunt and Divine Shield pair really well together. On turn 3, it might actually be pretty difficult to remove this guy without losing anything. Even though it’s only 2/2, it might get a decent trade against some early game minions. But it honestly doesn’t seem like an insane turn 3 play in the matchups it’s designed for – aggressive ones.

But the card just screams “buff me”. And yes, buffing it can be a great way to make it much better. While it curves right into the Blessing of Kings, it’s not likely that the Divine Shield will stay on that long. However, it can make an amazing turn 7 play against Aggro decks. The card text states that whenever it DEALS DAMAGE, it heals you. So it doesn’t matter if it attacks or is attacked. For 7 mana, you can put a 6/6 Taunt with Divine Shield, similar to Tirion Fordring, but with the effect that’s way better in Aggro matchups. Since Aggro decks rarely run hard removals, it might heal you back to full quicker than you can pronounce his name. After all, if the enemy has to run 3 minions to kill it, it’s 18 points of healing and 3 minions killed. That’s insane.

It’s also pretty good thing to get out of the Barnes – which is already great in most of the Paladin decks.

One thing I have to say, however, is that it will not likely be a good card in Control Paladin. You’d prefer to play it in a deck with buffs like BoK, so Midrange Paladin seems like a much better fit. Sadly, before this expansion, no one really played Midrange Paladin. I hope that this minion might change it.

• Constructed rating: 4/5 (Good) in Midrange Paladin, meh in other versions.
• Arena rating: 3/5 (Average), better if you draft a lot of buffs.

Grimestreet Informant

Similar to the Kabal Courier (Mage) I reviewed in the last article, but this time instead of the 2/2 for 3 mana, it’s a 1/1 for 2 mana. I think it’s a worse statline, as 2/2 can often actually do something, while 1/1 will most likely get killed for free or pinged down. The effect, however, is similar. It reminds me of the Jeweled Scarab too – 2 mana 1/1 Discover Card. Jeweled Scarab, however, had a clear purpose – you’ve played it in the classes that had strong 3 mana cards (with Discover having a higher rate of class cards, you had quite a solid chance to get them) and it also made sure that you would hit the curve if you were missing a 3-drop. This doesn’t guarantee anything like that. On the other hand, it might be better in the late game – as you have a chance to get something bigger than a 3-drop. So it might be played in the decks that play Jeweled Scarab right now. The thing is, there aren’t many of them – I’ve seen it only in the Reno decks.

So I don’t think we’ll see it played too much. I might be wrong, because I haven’t though about all the cross-class possibilities. Like for example, getting the Eaglehorn Bow in Secret Paladin or Savannah Highmane in N’Zoth Warrior – but those are just the best case scenarios and won’t likely happen that often.

• Constructed Rating: 3/5 (Average)
• Arena Rating: 3/5 (Average)

Potion of Madness

A new version of the Shadow Madness. On the one hand, there is a huge difference between 3 attack and 2 attack. On the other, there is even bigger difference between 4 mana and 1 mana. That’s right – only 1 mana.

This card seems very powerful, but also very situational. So I’d say that while it will most likely see play, it’s also more of a tech card. If there are a lot of 2 Attack minions in the meta, it’s great. But if there aren’t many, it might be dead card a lot of the times.

What I really like about the card is the mana cost. Because it’s a cheap spell, you can combo it quite easily with Wild Pyromancer for a cheap AoE or Priest of the Feast for a cheap healing. There are some insane things you can do with it. For example – If you play Wild Pyro + Potion of Madness against Zoo, Miracles can happen. If you cast it on the Imp Gang Boss, for 3 mana you: deal with Imp Gang Boss, deal 1 damage AoE, spawn two 1/1’s on your side, still have a 3/1 Wild Pyro on your side of the board. Insane value. Or you can steal the Acolyte of Pain from the opponent and run it into something – for 1 mana you deal with a 1/3 minion, prevent the opponent from drawing and draw a card yourself. Or you can deal with the Hunter’s Kindly Grandmother for 1 mana + get a 3/2 yourself.

The only thing I don’t like about this card is that 2 Attack minions are usually 2/3. It means that if your in the meta with a lot of 2/3’s, you can’t really bump one into another to kill them. They will both end up at 2/1. Wild Pyro can help with that, but you don’t always have him.

I still think this card will see at least some play, because for 1 mana the effect is really, really powerful.

• Constructed Rating: 4/5 (Good)
• Arena Rating: 4/5 (Good)

Drakonid Operative

Remember when I said that Priest is getting great cards this expansion? Right. This is one of them. While it only really fits into the Dragon Priest, it has everything you want.

It has an amazing statline. 5/6 for 5. You don’t get cards like that with powerful effects. Well, at least you didn’t until now. And then the Battlecry is also insane, especially in the slower matchups. Discovering a card from the opponent’s deck is not only great value, but if you’re a good player, the information you get might be even better.

You might learn exactly what deck opponent plays. Sure, by turn 5 you probably know that already, but not always. When you face Control Warrior – you might end up knowing which version he plays, e.g. if he plays N'Zoth, The Corruptor or not. Against Paladin, you can check out whether he plays a standard Control Paladin or the Anyfin can Happen version (by discovering a Murloc). Against RenoLock you might see whether he runs the Leeroy Jenkins combo. Then, there are also tech cards. If you see enemy playing Deathwing in their deck, you know that you might want to play around it in the future.

Besides the information about the deck and tech cards, you also get information of the cards that aren’t in his hand. When the Warrior has played one Brawl already and you discover a second one, you know that you can flood the board more freely, as he would need to top deck it right now.

So this card has perfect stats, high value and it might give you additional info about the opponent’s deck and hand. I feel like it’s going to be an auto-include into Dragon Priest decks. And I think that this + the card I will be reviewing soon are going to make Dragon Priest a deck to fear.

• Constructed Rating: 5/5 (Great) in Dragon Priest
• Arena Rating: 4/5 (Good), 5/5 if you draft a few Dragons

Manic Soulcaster

It’s pretty hard to rate this one. I’ll start with a deck that this would fit into. Control Mage or Reno Mage, basically any kind of grinder Mage deck. Not in Tempo, not in Aggro etc. I think that Reno Mage is the most likely candidate. And the thing is – this card is really good in the slow matchups, but it’s nearly useless in the fast ones. If you play vs a fast deck, it’s most likely a vanilla 3/4 for 3. Actually, it might even be bad – if you have a minion on the board and you want to play this guy, you will be forced to shuffle it to your deck. When there is a valid target, you have to pick it. And if you play against the Aggro, having an extra Mana Wyrm or Sorcerer's Apprentice somewhere in your deck isn’t beneficial. It’s bad, because it lowers the chance to draw things you need – e.g. Reno Jackson. On the other hand, there is a chance to shuffle another Reno into your deck once you draw one already and save yourself this way, but it’s less likely scenario.

This is, however, an insane card in slow matchups. When you play a Reno Mage in a Control game, you don’t really care about tempo that much. You care about value. About the TOTAL value of your deck. And this minion can increase that total value quite significantly. You can play any strong minion that’s up to 7 mana and shuffle a copy of it into the deck. You get +1 card in the deck, so you fatigue one turn later. And you have more total value. With Thaurissan proc, you can even get as far as shuffling a second Ragnaros the Firelord or maybe Medivh, the Guardian. And that increases your chance to win in the long run quite significantly.

So yeah, I can see it being played in Reno Mage, especially in the slower metas, but I don’t think that we would see it in anything besides that.

• Constructed Rating: 3/5 (Average) – less in fast metas, more in slow metas.
• Arena Rating: 4/5 (Good) – shuffle part is pointless, but it’s still 3/4 for 3.

Pilfered Power

I see that people are getting quite hyped for it, but I don’t really share their enthusiasm. Ramp is strongest in the early game, situational in the mid game and useless in the late game. Like all ramp cards, it would be strongest to play it on the curve (or even ahead of the curve) – but it costs 3 mana. You basically get 1 Wild Growth for every minion you have on the board. But now let’s think – realistically, how many minions you have on the board by turn 3? The thing is, that number is usually 0. Sometimes it’s 1. Rarely it’s 2 because of the Living Roots that enemy didn’t bother to clear. But that’s a very rare scenario and probably the only card you can realistically combo it with.

So the only serious combo I see right now is turn 1 Living Roots, turn 2 Coin + this. Or if you’re going first, turn 1 Living Roots + Innervate + this. Both are unlikely, because they require you to have those 2 and 3 cards respectively in the early game.

But Stone, if you play a more aggressive Druid list, it’s quite easy to have more minions on the board by turn 3! Yes, that’s true. I remember sometimes having 3+ minions on turn 3 when playing Egg Druid. But the thing is, if you play an Aggro deck and you have 3+ minions by turn 3, you don’t really need ramp. Your hand is almost empty. Instead of basically passing a turn 3, you would prefer to play another minion or some buff to get more tempo on the board.

So slow Druid decks are very unlikely to get enough minions in the early game for this to be good. And fast Druid decks just don’t need to spend 3 mana on ramping, because most of their cards are cheap anyway.

Between Wild Growth, Mire Keeper and Nourish, Druid has enough ways to ramp up. And all of those 3 are certain – you can play them on an empty board and you just ramp up. This one is situational. I wouldn’t trade any of those 3 for Pilfered Power and you can’t really afford to play yet another ramp card…

P.S. I wonder if you can cycle this card on 10 mana like WG. If not, it’s even worse.

• Constructed Rating: 2/5 (Bad)
• Arena Rating: 2/5 (Bad)

Counterfeit Coin

Rogue is getting an actual Coin card. What times we’re living in. Right now, I don’t think that this card is going to be played just because we have Tomb Pillager, which adds this card on top of the 5/4 for 4 body. After Tomb Pillager rotates? That’s a hard question.

This card is not good. I mean, it’s a much worse Innervate. Coin isn’t a real card, it’s usually counted as half of the card, sometimes even less than that. But the only reason why this might see some play is because it’s a Rogue card. With Gadgetzan Auctioneer on the board, that’s 0 mana “draw a card, add 1 mana” – that’s insane. It’s also 0 mana +2/+2 to Edwin VanCleef and you can always use it to activate something like a SI:7 Agent.

The card has potential. It’s very strong if the game goes your way. But I’m afraid of one thing – this card is nearly useless if you won’t draw your Auctioneer. You know those games where it’s turn 7-8 and you’re running out of cards, because you didn’t draw your cycle. In that case, having a Coin card is terrible. You can’t do anything with it. It’s also one of the worst top decks in a no-Auctioneer hand.

It’s a pretty good idea to add Coin as a Rogue’s class cards. It fits the class’s identity and play style. But I’m afraid that it might not be worth it to put Coins as the individual cards into your deck. I mean, compare it to the Preparation, which also costs 0 mana, but gives you 3 mana to work with instead. Sure, it’s on spells only, but there’s still a huge difference between 1 and 3 mana. But I have to say that Rogue is probably the hardest class in the game and I’m definitely not a Rogue expert, so I might be wrong on this one.

• Constructed Rating: 2/5 (Bad)
• Arena Rating: 2/5 (Bad)

Lotus Agents

Another Tri-Class card, this time from the Jade Lotus. The first card that comes to mind when reviewing this is Ethereal Conjurer. Which turned out to be quite a solid card. This one has similar stats (1 Attack less, but that’s not a big deal) and also discovers a card. But Mage spells are much more specific than random cards from Druid, Rogue and Shaman.

My biggest issue with this card are actually the classes it is in. I don’t think we’re going to see it in Druid – every Druid archetype already runs some strong 5-drops. Rogue? I think it might be too slow, Rogue’s mid/late game play style is mostly based around the tempo. Shaman? Definitely not in the current Midrange Shaman. The deck runs so many broken cards that it sometimes cuts Fire Elemental – there is no way that this card would fit.

So that’s the problem. With Discover not being too specific, you could probably say that this one is 5/3 for 5 with “draw a card” Battlecry. But is it better than the Azure Drake? It also draws a card, stat lines are comparable, but it has Spell Damage – which is really useful in every of those classes (that’s why all of them run it).

The only thing I can see going for this card is the Rogue’s 5-drop –  Ethereal Peddler. If you would play a Thief Rogue archetype, you would probably want to run this card too. After all, you can discover a card from a different class and then make it cheaper – it’s a nice combo. But outside of that one thing, which most likely won’t even be very viable, this card seems like a subpar Azure Drake. Which still makes it an okay card, but it’s just not good enough.

• Constructed Rating: 3/5 (Bad)
• Arena Rating: 4/5 (Good)

Kun the Forgotten King

This one is pretty good, but comes with a huge risk. I mean, the risk is it costing 10 mana. When you’re at 10, it’s great. But playing a 10 mana minion means that topdecking it in the early/mid game is very punishing.

The card itself has two options. You can refill all of your mana crystals – yes, all of them. It means that with 10 mana, you can cast it for free. 0 mana 7/7 would be another addition to the already insane 0 mana 8/8 Arcane Giant. And the 10 Armor gain might be great when you don’t need more tempo, against the opponent that tries to rush you down or against burn decks like Malygos Rogue or Freeze Mage.

The thing is, I don’t think you can afford to run it in the Malygos Druid decks. I don’t think that it’s stronger than Arcane Giant in this deck (because you can play Arcane Giant sooner than turn 10 a lot of the time) and you can’t add yet another late game card. I mean, you COULD if the meta was slower, but it’s not likely going to happen.

It would fit a classic Ramp Druid more. It would fit the Astral Communion Druid even more. But those decks aren’t really popular, because they are inferior to the Maly Druid. So while this card seems cool and shiny and everything, I think we might not see it being played at all.

• Constructed Rating: 3/5 (Average)
• Arena Rating: 2/5 (Bad)

Finja, the Flying Star

Flavor-wise, it’s a win. It’s a ninja Murloc fighting with two sawfish (?) instead of ninjato. Amazing. The card itself, however, just like most of the other Murlocs, really falls short in terms of the power. I mean, first of all – to make it work, you would need to play a Murloc deck. Which aren’t strong. Then, you pay 5 mana for a 2/4. Then, for the effect to trigger, you need to actually kill a minion. Which might be easy against Shaman if they have Totem on the board, but a lot of the time you need way more than 2 attack to kill something past turn 5. And you could say that it’s a one-time effect, you can’t count on it surviving another turn.

So if you add everything up, I don’t think that it’s going to work. The only deck I can see this being played in is Anyfin Can Happen Paladin. This would allow to pull out the Murlocs straight from your deck, which is basically draw 2 and set up for a quicker Anyfin. It’s still a stretch, because Anyfin Paladin runs a lot of cycle already. For example – The Curator accomplishes a similar job of thinning your deck and pulling a Murloc (1 instead of 2, right, but still) while having a decent statline and the effect being a Battlecry.

However, it’s a huge buff to the Murloc Knight. Murloc Knight still won’t be a viable Constructed card, because the Murloc pool got heavily nerfed in Standard, but it will jump a few points in Arena.

• Constructed Rating: 2/5 (Bad) – I’ve given it 2 instead of 1 only because it MIGHT have some synergy with Anyfin Paladin
• Arena Rating: 1/5 (Terrible) – Better if you draft some Murlocs, but not by a lot.