Most Underrated Cards From The Boomsday Project

The Boomsday Project was released nearly a month ago. We can definitely say that the meta has more or less stabilized – at least before the balance patch (which we haven’t heard about yet). It’s a time to look closer at the pre-expansion predictions and compare them to how strong the cards turned out to be in reality. Rating cards pre-release is really difficult. You can never guess how the meta will exactly look like, some of the cards might look insane on the paper, but turn out to be mediocre in the game or vice versa. It’s tough, but it’s part of the reveal season fun. And part of the expansion fun is looking past at those ratings and seeing how wrong we were. Yes, we, because I’m guilty of underrating some of those cards too.

In the first part, I will be looking at the most underrated cards from Boomsday Project (there will also be a second part about overrated cards – stay tuned!). An underrated card isn’t necessarily a card that was thought to be very weak, but turned out to be a meta-breaker (like the infamous Corridor Creeper). By “underrated” I simply mean a card that was rated significantly lower than its real power level – for example, a card that was rated to be #110 of the expansion, but turned out to be above average is still underrated, even if it doesn’t see play in any Tier 1 deck. Similarly, a card that was rated #30 out of 135, but is now all over the ladder was also underrated – even though it wasn’t rated as “garbage” at first, it still turned out to be much better than suspected.

Before I proceed, let me explain where I got the average ratings from. First of all, those are community ratings, not pro ratings – I feel like it’s the best way to show how an average player felt about the card (or, to be honest, above average player, since casual players most likely didn’t care enough to vote). The ratings I will be using come from three different sources – our site (I screenshotted all of the card ratings on the release day), Vicious Syndicate’s pre-release poll (Source) and HearthPwn pre-release ratings (Source). I will take the card’s position (e.g. #35 out of 135) from each of the sites, take the average, and look for the cards that stand out most (one way or the other). When talking about card’s current popularity, I use HSReplay.net statistics (Last 7 days, Legend-10).

Supercollider

Average rating – #113 out of 135

New Warrior weapon, Supercollider, was one of the most underrated cards from Boomsday. I also rated it 3/10, I just thought that it’s pretty clunky, easy to play around and Warrior simply doesn’t need another mid game weapon (because Blood Razor already does the job fine and you don’t want to play too many weapons). However, I completely didn’t expect Odd Warrior to take off the way it did, and probably so did most of the players.

Not only does Odd Warrior not have any 4-6 mana weapon other than Arcanite Reaper (which is obviously not a great choice in a Control deck), it has limited removal, both single target and AoE (since it can’t run Execute or Warpath), making this weapon fit right in. In the mid game, it can often clear two minions at once, and even after that, when your opponent is obviously going to play around it, it’s still going to snatch some value. Especially against decks such as Zoo Warlock, which often simply have no way to play around it – 1-2 minions are going to die every turn anyway.

The card is probably not good enough to replace Blood Razor in the regular Warrior lists, but the fact that it’s played in one of the top tier decks in the current meta is definitely a big surprise.

Mechanical Whelp

Average rating – #99 out of 135

Mechanical Whelp is the definition of a slow minion. You pay 6 mana to get a 2/2 body, which can be countered in a variety of ways (Silence is the most common, but something like Cabal Shadow Priest hurts even more). And even if you get your Deathrattle off, you get a 7/7 body, which is good, but honestly not even that impressive for 6 mana. However, the reason why this card sees play is because now we have two classes that can trigger Deathrattles left and right – Hunter and Rogue. While Deathrattle Rogue turned out to be worse than initial results suggested, Deathrattle Hunter is still a very popular deck, and some of the builds run Mechanical Whelp. It’s a bit like a new, more expensive Egg. Cards that can trigger Deathrattle are also the reason why Devilsaur Egg, a 3 mana 0/3 minion, sees that much play as it does.

It’s definitely not one of the best cards in the expansion, but it’s also far from the bottom. If we go by the play rate, it’s in the top 20 cards from Boomsday Project.

While unrelated, I love the card in Odd Warrior too – while you obviously can’t put it into the deck, after you turn into Dr. Boom, Mad Genius, it’s one of the best Mechs to Discover (Omega Assembly or Hero Power). It’s like a Charged Devilsaur on steroids.

Mecha’thun

Average rating – #84 out of 135

Mecha’thun is an interesting case. Before I start talking about the card, I have to say that the #84 score is probably inflated by the fact that lots of folks gave it a high score because of its “meme” potential or just because it’s a cool card. But the general sentiment was that while it’s really interesting, it’s not going to work. And you know what? It does work. Not only that, but it does work in multiple classes. While those are not high tier decks, mostly off-meta ones, lots of folks had success with them on the ladder, or even in the tournaments.

Mecha’thun Priest is the most prominent one. The goal is to draw & play every card, get your hand down to Reckless Experimenter, Coffin Crasher, 2x Ticking Abomination and Mecha'thun, then drop your combo for an instant win. Thanks to Reckless Experimenter, all of your Deathrattle minions will die at the end of the turn in order they were played in – so you drop Coffin Crasher (which will pull out Mecha’thun form your hand), and then your Ticking Abominations will clear the entire board, including Mecha’thun.

Some players had success with other builds, such as Mecha’thun Druid (which plays a deck full of cheap spells with Gadgetzan Auctioneer to get through it as quickly as possible, then finishes the game with Mecha’thun + Innervate + Naturalize) or Mecha’thun Warlock (usually built as Even Warlock, you drop 2x Galvanizer to make Mecha’thun cheaper and then drop him, play Bloodbloom and get rid of your entire hand and board once you’re in fatigue, winning the game) have also seen some play. While pretty uncommon, because it can’t be played in Odd build, Mecha’thun is also used as a finisher in some Control Warrior decks.

And the thing is, that’s only the beginning. Those decks have already proven that the card CAN work, and it will be there in Standard until the first expansion of 2020 – plenty of time to find a way to exploit it. Most players, including me, definitely underrated this one.

Dyn-o-matic

Average rating – #75 out of 135

Another card, which is bread and butter of Odd Warrior. Not only is it a Mech for the sake of Dr. Boom synergy, but it’s also a great Control card as it is. I’m actually surprised that it was rated so low (to be honest, vS rated it at #45, but the other two ratings have brought the average down quite considerably), because even if you ignore the Mech part, a 5 mana 3/4 that deals 5 damage is just good. The damage being spread randomly is both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand, if your opponent has a few minions and you want to destroy the specific one, you can’t target it. On the other hand, a single 5 damage wouldn’t be able to clear e.g. a 3/3 and 3/2 minion at the same time (which often happens against aggressive deck, like Zoo) or 5x 1 health minion (quite common scenario vs Odd Paladin).

Another downside/upside is that it can only target non-Mech minions. It’s downside when you face a Mech you want to clear, but it’s an upside if you have Mechs of your own on the board (which is pretty common in the late game when playing Odd Warrior).

Still, the card works really well no matter what matchup you face (unless it’s basically a full Mech deck, but those are nearly non-existent in the current meta). It can often answer your opponent’s on-curve 4/5-drop, or a board with a few smaller minions. Thanks to the Rush it gets after Dr. Boom, it can also be used to answer 8 health minions such as Mountain Giant or The Lich King. Definitely one of the most underrated cards from this expansion, which is especially weird considering that Dr. Boom, Mad Genius was basically one of the highest rated cards at the same time.

Shooting Star

Average rating – #74 out of 135

Another underrated card is sneaking into Tempo Mage lists. I think that this deck will just play anything Blizzard throws its way, after using Cinderstorm from Witchwood, which was also heavily underrated , and now both Cosmic Anomaly (which was slightly less underrated – around #50 out of 135 if I remember correctly) and Shooting Star. The latter in particular was rated really low, but it’s now played in basically every Tempo Mage build on the ladder.

The obvious downside of this card is that it can’t hit the face, but it’s not that big of a deal. Tempo Mage also needs to fight for the board control against faster decks, it’s free with Sorcerer's Apprentice, it buffs Mana Wyrm, and most importantly it’s nuts with Spell Damage. Cosmic Anomaly + Shooting Star is 3x 3 damage, usually enough to clear the board when you drop it on T4-T5. Even in slower matchups, answering some smaller minions or Taunts means that your minions (which are incredibly important, because burn damage alone often doesn’t cut it) can survive.

The card is already good, and if Blizzard decides to push the Spell Damage Mage theme even further, it will definitely be an auto-include into such a deck. I just think that in this case, players didn’t think that an aggressive deck like Tempo Mage would want to run a spell that can only target minions and doesn’t deal any damage. However, it’s a bit similar to Arcane Blast, which was auto-include in Tempo Mage back in the day – cheap board control spell with a great Spell Damage synergy.

Soul Infusion

Average rating – #64 out of 135

As I’m writing this, it’s in the Top 5 Boomsday cards played on the ladder in the last 7 days, played in most of the Zoo Warlock builds – and Zoo is one of the most popular decks on the ladder. In this case, I could see how players might underrate it. Historically, handbuffs were pretty… bad. Handbuff Paladin has seen some play, but it was mostly off-meta deck when stronger Paladin builds were present on the ladder. Buffing minion in hand means that, unless it has Rush/Charge, you can’t use those stats immediately. If you buff something that’s on the board and can already attack, you get advantage of those extra stats immediately, making handbuffs way slower. They also lack a surprise factor – when you play one, your opponent knows what you have done and he might be able to prepare for it. On-board buff is usually hidden right until it’s played. Plus, single target handbuffs had a big disadvantage of being random – if you had 4 minions in your hand, but only 2 that you wanted to buff, it was basically a 50/50, which you definitely want to avoid.

But this handbuff is a bit different from the rest. The main selling point of this card is that it’s consistent – it always targets the left-most minions in your hand. Which basically means that you can control it to a certain extent – if the minions on the left is not something you want to buff, you just play it. Since most of the minions in Zoo are cheap, it usually isn’t a problem.

What’s worth mentioning is that handbuffs had one major advantage over regular buffs – cards that copied themselves on Battlecry did benefit from them way more. And that’s the main reason why Soul Infusion is so common in Zoo. Not only Saronite Chain Gang was already the 4-drop of choice in Prince Keleseth lists, but the class has got a new addition – Doubling Imp, which works similarly, but for 1 less mana. Hitting either of those with +2/+2 buff is massive tempo swing. 1 mana for +2/+2 is already good, but when it becomes 1 mana for +4/+4, spread over 2 targets, that can win you some games on the spot.

While it’s still often telegraphed, it negates one of the biggest disadvantages of a handbuff (randomness), while having some advantages over the regular buffs. Soul Infusion is definitely one of the better cards from Boomsday Project, and pre-expansion votes putting it right in the middle means that it was severely underrated.

Spider Bomb

Average rating – #40 out of 135

Spider Bomb is basically an auto-include into one of the strongest decks on the ladder, Deathrattle Hunter, which without a doubt deserves the Tier 1 position in the current meta. If we looked at Spider Bomb without a context, the card would be pretty average – after all, it’s a delayed Deadly Shot with a 2/2 body. However, just like always, the context is very, very important. Hunter is a class, which right now is known for its ability to trigger the Deathrattles multiple times. Thanks to cards like Play Dead, Terrorscale Stalker, Carnivorous Cube etc. (or even Fireworks Tech in the decks that don’t run Prince Keleseth), triggering it is pretty easy. So it is just like Deadly Shot, but it also stays on the board (or you eat it with Cube and then get more) and makes things really awkward for the opponent. You’ve just destroyed his big minion, usually gained lots of tempo AND you put this awkward minion on the board. Not, before he can drop another big minion, he has to deal with it. Dealing will often cost him a precious removal, or he might spend a big chunk of his turn dealing with it (with e.g. weapon or Silence), which often delays the big play he would like to make instead.

On top of that, the card can also Magnetize into something else. You can use it to to trigger its effect immediately, make a bigger minion to get a better trade, or just to push for some more damage right away. While Magnetize is definitely not the main selling point of this card, it comes handy sometimes, especially if you play a more Mech-heavy version of the deck.

At the time I’m writing this, it’s in the top 5 Boomsday cards on the ladder in terms of popularity. While #40 out of 135 is not THAT bad, it would make it only an above average card, and I’d say that it deserves to be higher given that it’s a powerful staple in a Tier 1 archetype.

Giggling Inventor

Average rating – #28 out of 135

It wouldn’t be a stretch if I called Giggling Inventor the best card from Boomsday Project. Even if some of them might be more powerful in certain decks, in terms of popularity, flexibility and its defensive capabilities, Giggling Inventor is on top. The card is played in ~47% of the decks on the ladder at the time I’m writing this, making it unquestionable #1 on the ladder in general, being twice more popular than the second card on the list (currently Fungalmancer with ~24% popularity).

I’ve dedicated an entire article to the reasons why Giggling Inventor is so strong (you can read it here if you’re interested), but to make the long story short, it’s very mana-efficient, it fits well into many different decks, it’s pretty hard to counter if you don’t specifically tech against it, it’s the best Neutral mid game defensive option and so on. If we see the between-the-expansions nerf patch soon, I’m quite sure that Giggling Inventor will be the #1 (and possibly the only) nerf candidate.

Multiple cards that work well against it, such as Mossy Horror, Blood Knight or Mind Control Tech, skyrocketed in terms of popularity after players have realized that Giggling Inventor is used in half of the decks on the ladder. Giggling Inventor has warped the gameplay around it – on Turn 5 you want to either be prepared for your opponent’s Giggling, or have one of your own. The card is similar to Corridor Creeper in that way – super popular, can fit into multiple decks, makes massive impact on the meta. And while it wasn’t as underrated as Corridor Creeper (which was like THE definition of a sleeper card in Hearthstone), I’d say that #28 out of 135 score doesn’t do it justice.

I know that some pros warned that the card was overpowered, so did lots of the players. But the general sentiment was that this card is good, but not amazing, and that Boomsday Project has a lot of better cards to offer. I rated it 9/10 in my initial review, then 5/5 stars on Farsig.ht, so I really suspected that it will be a great card, and even I didn’t expect it to be AS popular as it is right now, reaching nearly 50% of the popularity on the ladder and just staying there, despite everyone teching in against it.