Most Important Cards Rotating Out in 2023 (Year of the Wolf) – Part 2 (Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin)

Year of the Hydra is coming to an end – next week, it will be replaced by Year of the Wolf. Standard rotation is always a massive event, its impact on the meta can’t be overstated.

This time we’re losing all of the 2021 expansions and their mini-sets, as well as 73 cards from the Core Set – a total of 583 cards will now be only playable in Wild. Among them, there are a lot of staples that we’ve seen in meta decks since their release. Those cards disappearing means that multiple archetypes will cease to exist, which should, in turn, create space for new decks to rise up.

In this article (or to be more precise a series of three articles), I will showcase some of the most important cards that are rotating out. 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 still see play after rotation. I obviously excluded straight-up bad cards or cards that never got enough synergy to be playable. Then I excluded cards that were only played in meme/off-meta decks that were never viable. I also didn’t include cards that were played in the past, but become unplayable after some synergies already rotated out or they got nerfed. Yes, the definition leaves some wiggle room, 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 reconsider it.

• Part 1 – Neutral Cards
• Part 2 – Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin
• Part 3 – Priest, Shaman, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior

Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter gets through this rotation pretty alright compared to some other classes. But while it doesn’t lose A LOT of cards, it loses some really key pieces.

The biggest loss by far is Fel package – Jace Darkweaver, Fury (Rank 1) and Fel Barrage. Jace has been a staple Demon Hunter finisher in any combo/burn deck. Fel package was so good that it was slapped onto many decks. Since most of the Fel spells were good by themselves, Jace has been an incredible late game bomb. You could often deal 20+ damage out of nowhere, and even if your spells didn’t hit correctly you usually at the very least cleared a big chunk of your opponent’s board + hit them in the face for a bunch of damage.

Aggressive decks are also losing some solid cards like Dreadprison Glaive, Metamorfin and Battleworn Vanguard. They are going to have a pretty rough time in the new expansion, but luckily their refill cards (Magnifying Glaive, Sightless Magistrate) are still staying in.

Sigil of Alacrity and Need for Greed are really solid card draws – Sigil in particular was used in pretty much every single Demon Hunter deck, as it was a good T1 play and later a great way to end a turn without floating 1 mana.

And finally – Kurtrus, Demon-Render has been consistently one of the strongest Hero cards from Alterac Valley. It was played in nearly every single Demon Hunter decks – Aggro, Burn, Combo, Big. He provided enough tempo from Rush minions to not fall behind when you play him and then the Hero Power upgrade was insane. Any Demon Hunter board became much more deadly when playing against him, and even simple upgrade from 1 to 2 base damage was often good enough to put pressure on the opponent.

As you can see, even though Demon Hunter isn’t losing a lot of cards, the ones that are about to rotate out will affect a lot of different decks. The class will really need to rethink strategies. Still, they have some other strategies to fall back to – Aggro still has hand refills and potentially the Outcast package, and Combo/Burn decks still have the Relic package and Lady S'theno. Kayn Sunfury also makes comeback in Core set, which might be interesting.

Druid

Things are looking pretty rough for Druid. While they got some really solid cards in Festival of Legends, the rotation is going to kill any currently existing deck. Druid is going to need to completely rethink the strategy, and I’m not sure if the new package (like the Hero Power buff stuff) is going to be enough.

Let’s start with Ramp Druid. Wildheart Guff is the biggest loss for the deck by far – it was the backbone of any Ramp-based Druid deck ever since its release. Going up to 20 mana meant that your early ramp wasn’t wasted in the late game (when you both hit 10 so the early advantage was gone) and that you could pull off some crazy combos. But that’s just the beginning. Jerry Rig Carpenter was an amazing tutor for Nourish, Moonlit Guidance was a really strong card in general, helping you look for what you needed + duplicate some late game win cons. Scale of Onyxia was your best board clear, in a class that usually doesn’t have access to great board clears (notably Spammy Arcanist is also out). Earthen Scales rotating out means that your late-game survivability will also drop. Not to mention that with Lady Anacondra and Celestial Alignment out of the picture, that variant of Ramp Druid is also gone from Standard. Rough times for Ramp Druid.

But Ramp is not the only deck that will suffer in the rotation. Basically, all variants of Aggro/Token Druid also lose a bunch of cards. Most notably – AoE buffs. Sow the Soil, Clawfury Adept and Pride's Fury are all gone. Yes, we get a new AoE buff – Drum Circle – but it’s way too expensive for an Aggro build. Druid of the Reef is gone – it was a really strong, flexible card, often played in slower decks too, but it really shined in Aggro builds. Thorngrowth Sentries was another great card  – anything that summons multiple bodies is great in Aggro Druid. The Beast package is also gone – while it wasn’t a go-to Aggro Druid build for a while, it might have come handy after the rotation (but it won’t, obviously). And finally – losing Composting is a hit to the deck’s card draw capabilities, but most recent builds didn’t run it anyway, the meta was just too tempo-oriented – but it was a great card whenever it slower down. Combine that with losing Neutrals like Irondeep Trogg and Peasant and literally half of the deck is rotating out.

Hunter

Hunter is another class that loses a lot of cards, but overall I think it’s going to be fine. It still has some really strong cards from this year and the new set is looking pretty good for the class. But let’s look at what will be gone.

Let’s start with the most obvious – Questline Hunter is gone from Standard. Questline rotates out. Whether you liked it or not, it was an important part of many metas, sometimes even too important (hence why it was nerfed).

Big Beast Hunter is gone – or at least gone in its current form. Wing Commander Ichman, The Rat King, Imported Tarantula, Mountain Bear, Pet Collector – those were all pretty important cards in the deck. Without them, it loses a lot of mid/late game payoff cards. However, I wouldn’t call it dead just yet. It looks like Festival of Legends is adding some new Big Beast support with cards like Big Dreams, Banjosaur, and maybe most importantly Stranglethorn Heart. Assuming those turn out to be viable, the deck should be able to survive, although in a heavily altered form.

Hunter is also losing its Secret package. While the Core Set Secrets are intact, Ice Trap is rotating out. It’s been a really solid Secret – while not as good as Counterspell, you could really mess with your opponent’s turns and sometimes get a massive tempo win if you hit something bigger. But maybe more importantly, two great Secret synergy cards are gone – Dun Baldar Bunker and Spring the Trap. They were staples in any Hunter decks running Secret package. Bunker was just insane – drawing 3 cards and discounting them by 3 mana… for 2 mana. Sure, it was over 3 turns, but it was just crazy good. Hunter got small Secret support in a form of Harmonica Soloist, but it’s not a heavy Secret synergy, but more of a “generic good card”.

Then let’s look at Shockspitter Hunter. The card was so good that it was nerfed not once, but twice and it’s still playable. While the deck’s biggest loss has to be a Neutral Brann Bronzebeard, even just looking at the Hunter cards it would probably be dead in its current form. Bloodseeker, Devouring Swarm and Stormpike Battle Ram were all important parts of the deck and it would be hard for it to function without them. It doesn’t mean that Shockspitter itself is unplayable – I think that the card might find a home in some other deck in the future, maybe not a deck completely built around it, but rather as an addition to a build that wants to run some weapons anyway. After all, it only takes around 3-4 weapon hits to make Shockspitter viable.

Face Hunter hasn’t been a mainstream deck in a long time, but back when it was, cards like Aimed Shot, Piercing Shot or Furious Howl were really important for it. The former two in particular, because they added the necessary burn damage. It might be hard for the deck to come back.

And finally, we got some generic good cards like Barak Kodobane, Wound Prey, Ramming Mount or Beaststalker Tavish which were played in multiple Hunter decks. Tavish in particular was a pretty solid card – like most of the Hero cards to be honest. The instant value of putting two upgraded Secrets was pretty solid. While a bit random, if you got what you wanted, they could make a massive impact on the game. And then the Hero Power could give you extra value in the long term and – again if you high-rolled – maybe the necessary burn to finish matches (oink).

Mage

The current rotation has been really solid for Mage. While the class was rarely on the absolute top, it was pretty much always playable in one form or the other. Sadly, many of those strategies will be gone after rotation. But the class should still survive with the tools it has.

Looking at the rotating cards – the first and most obvious package is Big Spells. The current Big Spell Mage is just dead. Losing just Balinda Stonehearth or one of the big spells would be a big hit, but the deck would still be fine. But it loses basically everything. Like I’ve said – Balinda, but also its biggest pay-off spells – Drakefire Amulet, Rune of the Archmage and Mass Polymorph (the last one wasn’t the most popular one, but it has seen some play too). On top of that, ways to repeat those spells – Grey Sage Parrot and Magister Dawngrasp. And if that’s not enough, a way to tutor those spells while gaining tons of armor – Deepwater Evoker. The deck also played few of the cards from Hero Power package (I already mentioned the Hero card) – losing them is not as big of a deal, but it would still hurt. Maybe Big Spell Mage will still be playable in another form in the future. After all, this specific build hasn’t been the first Big Spell Mage ever either. But for now, it’s gone from Standard.

I’ve already alluded to the Hero Power package – that’s the second biggest one Mage is losing. Not only we had a deck built around those cards, but the package often found its way into other builds in a supplementary form. Magister Dawngrasp was even nerfed (after being buffed once), because at one point it completely dominated any late game matchup by gaining damage too fast. The other HP Legendary – Mordresh Fire Eye – was also very powerful, a late game board clear + burn bomb in one. Then cards like Wildfire, Amplified Snowflurry or Reckless Apprentice were all really solid too. An early Wildfire or two could turn your Hero Power into a really deadly weapon and you had enough stall, board clears and so on to get to the late game while working on your opponent’s health at the same time. It’s most likely not the last time we see Hero Power Mage synergies, but just like in case of Big Spells, they’re gone from Standard for now.

And finally, we have miscellaneous “good cards” which made their way into many builds in the past. Varden Dawngrasp, Flurry (Rank 1), First Flame, Frostweave Dungeoneer, Shivering Sorceress, Runed Orb. They never found home in a single, specific build, but rather were played across many different Mage decks over the last 2 years. The most recent one is one of the strongest decks in the meta right now – Aggro Mage. It runs Flurry, Dungeoneer, Sorceress and sometimes even Varden. Mage players will definitely miss those cards.

Paladin

And last, but not least – Paladin. The class is losing a few key cards, but – to be completely honest – the rotation probably won’t impact its most popular build that much. However, let me first address the elephant in the room – Secrets.

Paladin was one of the first three original Secret classes alongside Mage and Hunter. It always stood out as a pretty weird choice for a Secret class, and it looks like Blizzard has finally agreed. The class is losing all of its current Secreet support + Blizzard has moved out all of its Secrets from the Core Set. While Secret Paladin hasn’t been great in a long time, it was actually one of the strongest decks 2 years ago, shortly after the release of Forged in the Barrens! Sword of the Fallen had to be quickly nerfed from 3 to 2 durability – rightfully so, the weapon completely dominated the landscape early in that expansion. Even after the nerf it was still commonly played alongside Northwatch Commander and a select few Secrets, such as Avenge, Noble Sacrifice, Galloping Savior or even Oh My Yogg! (which rotated out already last year). While losing Secret package is not THAT important in terms of gameplay (I probably wouldn’t put them on the list at all for their power level), it’s a pretty big deal in terms of class design. I wonder if it’s more of a “Paladin is taking break from Secrets” or maybe “Paladin will no longer get any Secret support”. To be completely honest – I’d prefer the latter. Rogue is a better fit for a Secret class anyway.

But when we look at actual, playable cards, the biggest loss is probably Lightforged Cariel. It’s a massive, massive hit to Control Paladin decks. They were pretty popular during Year of the Hydra – while they weren’t often Tier 1 builds, they were playable most of  the time. And Cariel was one of the main reasons why. The weapon halving all damage Paladin takes meant that opponent had to develop more aggressively and couldn’t hold back, making board clears much stronger. It also made healing more effective, since gaining let’s say 4 health is not a big deal normally, but when that 4 health turns into up to 8 health, now that’s better. Losing the other Cariel Roame, as well as City Tax, Righteous Defense etc. will also hurt the deck a bit, but not to the same extent as Cariel. Slow Paladin builds will have to rethink their late game strategy now.

Paladin is also losing some generic good cards that were played in nearly every build. Those losses probably hurt the class most competitively, as they’re played in the strongest Paladin build right now – Pure Paladin. Knight of Anointment, Battle Vicar, Stonehearth Vindicator and maybe most importantly Alliance Bannerman. You can probably also see a common thing among those – they all draw or generate extra cards. And they were damn good at that. That’s right, that’s what Pure Paladin might struggle with right now most – running out of resources. While The Purator is great, one Legendary card draw is definitely not enough. Other than that, I think that Pure Paladin will be good to go, but it’s definitely one area they need to fix.

And finally, we have some buffs, which were played in a few Aggro/Midrange Paladin decks over the last year. Prismatic Jewel Kit was great in handbuff package, but the card was good enough to see play even outside of that. If you played a Paladin deck with enough Divine Shields, you probably wanted this card too, as it could give you tons of extra stats for just 1 mana. Then Noble Mount and Hold the Bridge were good, generic Paladin buffs. But while losing them might be a disaster a few months ago, after Paladin got Seal of Blood and For Quel'Thalas! in March of the Lich King, it’s not longer that big of a deal.