Mossy Horror – A Hidden Metabreaker?

Hearthstone’s metagame is never truly “solved”. By the time players figure out what does work and what doesn’t, a new balance patch, expansion or even Standard rotation hits them and changes everything again.

Even in a meta that is more or less figured out, there are always some unexpected deck lists or tech choices that remain undiscovered. Some of the most interesting and strongest decks were discovered when lots of players thought that the meta is figured already – Dragon Warrior in Whispers of the Old Gods or Water Rogue in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan.

Same goes for the tech cards themselves. Not only does a new meta mean that new tech cards are getting stronger, but pro players (the main driving force behind the meta changes) simply can’t test every single option. And so, some of the techs are missed until they just turn out to be strong.

I believe that this harmless looking monster pulling a Godzilla on some poor town is a hidden gem of the current meta. I’ve seen a few pros starting testing it out, I also put him into a few deck myself.. and frankly, I’ve been happy with the results so far.

Why Mossy Horror?

Because frankly, the card is pretty solid. If you were playing a lot of Priest last year, you probably used Shadow Word: Horror. The card that, funnily enough, was considered really bad by the majority of players for a long, long time. Even after Pint-Size Potion came out, the combo was fringe at best. However, by the end of its existence in Standard, a lot of builds used it, even those which didn’t run the Potion part of the combo. It was a meta call – lots of decks flooded the board with 1-2 Attack minions. For 4 mana, you could often remove an entire board.

Mossy Horror is similar. Besides sharing the “Horror” part of the name, it has exactly the same effect, with a body attached. Depending on how you look at it, the card can be weaker or stronger than SW: Horror.  On the one hand, you pay 2 extra mana to get a 2/7 minion – that’s a great addition, since it adds some tempo to your removal and 2 mana for a 2/7 is simply great. On the other hand, it costing 2 more mana means that it’s worse as a pure removal. You can’t answer a Turn 4 or 5 board flood, and that was often the best use of SW: Horror. 2/7 body would also be great for 2 mana, but if you consider that it comes down on Turn 6, the low attack is not great. A lot of the minions can trade into it for free without dying, or even losing a lot of health, so it sometimes ends up being irrelevant (like, if your opponent drops The Lich King the turn after – what are you going to do with 2 attack, tingle it?) and the body is simply wasted.

Still, if we weigh the upsides and downsides, running the card in some decks makes a lot of sense. In particular, decks that struggle against 1-2 Attack board floods, for example by not having access to good class removals to deal with those.

Why Now?

Because of the current meta, obviously. This kind of effect works surprisingly well against lots of the decks that we’re seeing right now. It can find some use most of the matchup – there are just a few decks against which it’s just useless. But that’s how tech cards work.

I’d say that most importantly, the card works insanely well against all kinds of Druid besides Taunt Druid (sadly). Mossy Horror is an amazing counter to Spreading Plague, which is one of the strongest defensive tools in the entire game. Against Token Druid in particular, it also works against all kinds of board floods – Wispering Woods or Violet Teacher + a bunch of spells. Since it clears 2 Attack minions too, if Druid tries buff his minions immediately with Power of the Wild, bad luck, you will also be able to answer them. Not many things feel more satisfying than clearing five 2/6 Taunts with Mossy Horror. The downside is that against Taunt Druid, the only real use is answering that pesky Dragonhatcher hidden behind the big Taunt it just pulled from the Druid’s deck. Which is sometimes good enough. Still, non-Taunt Druids are roughly 10% of the ladder (Ranks 4-Legend) and that’s a big deal.

Then, the second best use for this card is Odd Paladin matchup. The deck is known for its board floods & constant refills. One turn you clear their board, the next turn they have 3-4 minions up again… and the cycle repeats 5 more times, at least (or you just lose if you can’t clear or put a wall). However, Mossy Horror is often a perfect answer for their boards. If you look at your average Odd Paladin deck, you will notice that pretty much every single minion has 1 or 2 Attack – tokens created from Hero Power, 1-drops, Raid Leader, Stonehill Defender, even Corridor Creeper. While buffs can sometimes ruin your plans, Mossy Horror is commonly a full board clear with a 2/7 body. Unlike in some other matchups, the 2/7 body is perfect against Odd Paladin, even in the late game. High health means that it can survive a lot of trades, and it’s amazing way to deal with those pesky small minions in case you don’t have another AoE clear in your hand.

Yet another class that can summon small minions with its Hero Power is Shaman, and Mossy Horror works really well against both common Shaman builds. I’d say that it shines more against Even Shaman, simply because the deck relies more on the board, but it can hit Shudderwock version really well too. Not only it clears all of the Totems (which, let’s be honest, are often annoyingly hard to destroy efficiently), but it deals with a bunch of other minions. Against Even Shaman, it can notably clear all of the 2-drops, such as Knife Juggler, Vicious Scalehide, Murkspark Eel, Primalfin Totem etc. Just like against Odd Paladin, it’s often a full board clear (until they start dropping those Giants, you have to deal with those another way). Against Shudderwock, well, the deck rarely relies on the board pressure to win the game, but all of those small minions (including Saronite Chain Gang) are a pain in the neck, standing between your minions and Shaman’s face (which you want to hit as hard as you can). It can also stop their draws – not only it clears the Mana Tide Totem, but if Shaman drops Acolyte of Pain, destroying it means no cards drawn at all. However, the biggest issue in this matchup is Prince Keleseth – sadly, it buffs a lot of the targets (such as Glacial Shard or Chain Gang) out of range. And they always have it on Turn 2. Always.

Even though it’s no longer as popular as it used to be a few weeks ago, the card works very well against Taunt Warrior too. Current deck’s strategy is to ignore the big Taunts and go for all the small/cheap ones to finish the Quest as quickly as possible. A board full of small Taunts is an incredibly annoying obstacle, and games against Taunt Warrior are often a race – once they finish the Quest they might be able to kill you in a few shots, and all of the stuff blocking your attacks doesn’t help. If we look at the most common Taunt Warrior lists right now, Tar Creeper (and sometimes Primordial Drake) is the only minion Mossy Horror can’t answer. It clears Cornered Sentry, Drywhisker Armorer, Acolyte of Pain, Phantom Militia, Saronite Chain Gang etc. Basically, lots of the time you can answer entire boards of Taunt Warrior with this card alone.

While those are some of the best reasons to put Mossy Horror into your deck, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be useless against other builds. For example, it can deal with all of the 1-drops against Odd Rogue; Mana Wyrm, Arcanologist and Amani Berserker (so basically half of their minions ) against Tempo Mage; Plated Beetle, Sunfury Protector and Vulgar Homunculus against Even Warlock etc. It’s also a solid answer to a late game Doomsayer meant to stall the game – you can answer it and develop a body at the same time. Even if it’s not big, you will end up with some extra tempo instead of skipping your turn, and that can go a long way.

Of course, there are some common matchups in which Mossy Horror is bad. If it wasn’t the case, he would probably be all over the ladder already. For example, it’s nearly useless against Spell Hunter (it can destroy the random Leokk, or leftover 1/1’s from Unleash the Hounds, but that’s pretty much it). It’s a little bit stronger against Recruit Hunter, since it can clear a good chunk of this build’s minions. At the same time, it’s often irrelevant, since those small minions are not the way Kathrena decks win in the late game anyway. Similar story against Even Warlock – hitting 2x Vulgar Homunculus feels good, but those small minions are often irrelevant in that deck anyway. Mossy Horror tech also works poorly against Miracle Rogue (clearing Fire Fly is not the best way to use 6 mana), and Big Spell Mage (to be fair, it can hit some minions, including Doomsayer, but once again, those aren’t really relevant to the deck’s game plan most of the time and clearing them won’t put you ahead like it would in some other matchups).

Which Decks Can Use It?

Starting off, Mossy Horror is probably not good to play in any of the proactive, board flood decks. I mean, you CAN do it, but if your board is usually full of 1-2 Attack minions, then it doesn’t make much sense. Ideally, you want to use it in a deck that does not run a lot of targets, but wants to have an extra board clear – either because it doesn’t have any good ones, or it just wants more, because the meta demands it.

Of course, it’s not like Mossy Horror is a card that will just work everywhere. Meta is different at different ranks, sometimes it even varies day to day. If you keep facing all of the decks it’s good against, then it might be worth teching in. If you don’t – you obviously don’t want to play it. But that’s basically “Tech Cards 101” – they are useful only when you play against the decks that they are meant to be played against.

Here are some of the decks that can tech in Mossy Horror:

• Miracle Rogue – This deck always shines in the slower meta. Thanks to the massive tempo swings, it can catch opponents off-guard and disrupt their game plan quite well. With multiple ways to swing the board, cycle or burst down the opponent, it destroys some of the common meta decks. That said, Miracle Rogue has one, massive downside – lack of defensive, reactive tools, including board clears. Druid dropping a big Spreading Plague or floods the board with 2/2’s? Odd Paladin is, well, Odd Paladin (having full board all the time)? If you play Rogue, you might have a hard time answering those. Yes, Fan of Knives is a thing, but 1 AoE damage for 3 mana is not exactly the best board clear in the game, it might just not cut it. You could also run Vanish, and some builds did, but the card has clear downsides. Against Aggro, it often just stalls the board for one turn instead of actually dealing with it – they will just replay those small minions and you will have to deal with them next turn. Mossy Horror, on the other hand, can be dropped against those to clear the entire boards for good. And usually nothing on your side, since Fire Fly is the only minion that can get killed by it in your entire deck (and yeah, it’s usually not a big deal even if it happens). The 2/7 body is surprisingly good in Miracle too, since it’s an amazing Cold Blood target, turning it into a massive 6/7 threat.
• Taunt Druid – One of the biggest downsides of the Taunt Druid deck is lack of Spreading Plague. If you don’t get the right curve and a faster deck floods the board, you often have no way to come back. Your big Taunt might be Silenced, or cleared efficiently with something like Vilespine Slayer, and you face lethal. You technically COULD play Spreading Plague, but then your Witching Hour is basically a gamble. You can simply not play Plague vs Control, but then it means that you have 2 dead cards, which is also bad, since the deck is already packed. Mossy Horror can solve that problem. While obviously not as powerful as Spreading Plague, it can deal with a lot of board floods, while putting something on the board at the same time. Odd Paladin, which is not a good matchup, becomes much, much easier if you tech in the Mossy Horror – it lets you stall the game for the two more turns you need to get to your Primordial Drakes. It also makes another terrible matchup – Even Shaman – much more bearable.
• Even Warlock – While technically Even Warlock has enough AoE clears already, another one definitely won’t hurt if you keep facing the board flood decks. In those matchups, you mostly want to be proactive. And unlike Defile or Hellfire, Mossy Horror puts a body on the board. On top of that, one of the best ways to win against Aggro is to drop a big body or two (like Mountain Giant or Twilight Drake) and keep clearing the board while punching face. Both Defile and Hellfire will deal damage to your board, making it easier to clear your big guys (I mean, after casting a Defile and Hellfire, even your Giants can be down to 2-3 health). Mossy Horror won’t damage those. yes, it will clear some of your 2-drops, but your other AoEs usually clear those too anyway, so it’s not a big deal.
• Shudderwock Shaman – I know that it might sound weird – after all, I’ve said that Mossy Horror is good AGAINST Shudderwock Shaman. But you see, Shudderwock Shaman, as a combo deck, is generally very reactive. For example, Volcano is also a terrible card if you’re the one having board, yet it’s a great board clear when you actually need one. Since you’re the one who’s in control of when you play it, you can just plan ahead for it. Mossy Horror gives you an extra AoE, and actually an extra Battlecry, which might matter. It attaches board clear to your Shudderwock, so if you ever find yourself in a situation in which you have Shudderwock, but you stare at the flooded board that can just kill you, you can still drop it and clear everything. Most of the time it won’t be relevant, but it might win you a game once in a while.

Closing

While the current meta is already pretty good for a Mossy Horror tech, it can always get better. I feel like this card will see some play over its time in Standard. Any time the meta will revolve around board floods with 1-2 Attack minions, it will be a great way to deal with those. Just like Priest could play Shadow Word: Horror even without any extra synergies, Mossy Horror might be used in classes / builds that are low on AoE removals or just need more to handle the pressure.

So… maybe I wouldn’t call him a “metabreaker” yet, it’s more of a “solid tech card” right now. But there’s still 5 expansions ahead of Mossy Horror’s Standard reign, and its time will come sooner or later.

Thank you for reading, I hope you’ve liked it. If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment below. Good luck on the ladder and until next time!