If you’re anything like me, then reveal season is your favorite time of the year (alongside the first days of a new expansion). With nothing figured out, new cards coming every day, wild theories and early deck builds (which most likely won’t work) popping up everywhere, and that surprise when you look at some card and think to yourself – “what were they thinking when they’ve designed it?”
I’ll take a closer look at each one of them, review it and rate it from 1 to 10. The scale itself should be quite obvious, but just to quickly explain how I see it: A card rated 5 is average – it might be playable in some decks, but it’s nothing special. Cards rated 3-4 might see some play in off-meta decks, or as obscure techs, but the closer we get to 1, the lower that chance is. When I rate card 1 or 2, I don’t believe that it will see any Constructed, non-meme play at all. On the other hand, going above 5 means that I see this card as something with a lot of potential. While I can’t guarantee that it will work out in the end, I believe that the cards with 6-8 are likely to see at least some Constructed play, while cards rated 9 or 10 are, in my mind, nearly sure hits – even if not right after the expansion’s release. 1 and 10 are reserved to the worst or best cards I can imagine, meaning that they won’t be used very often.
Remember that with only a handful of cards seen, it’s incredibly hard to review them accurately, since we have no clue what synergies will be printed or which themes will be pushed. I advise you to pay more attention to the description than the rating itself – I will try to explore some of the potential synergies and reasons why a given card might or might not work. I also encourage you to share your own predictions and reviews in the comment section. Even if you aren’t sure, don’t worry, no one is! There is nothing wrong about being wrong, I have never seen anyone who nailed most of the card ratings before the release. But, without further ado, let’s proceed with the reviews!
PREVIOUS CARD REVIEWS
- #1 – Spider Bomb, Biology Project, Omega Defender, Electra Stormsurge, Myra’s Unstable Element and Stargazer Luna
- #2 – Upgradeable Framebot, Zilliax, Flobbidinous Floop, Whizbang the Wonderful, Mulchmuncher and More!
- #3 – Kangor’s Endless Army, Lab Recruiter, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius, Giggling Inventor, Zerek’s Cloning Gallery and More!
Cybertech Chip
The easiest point of comparison for this card is Infest. On the one hand, Infest has seen no play. On the other hand, it costed 1 more mana, and a lot of the bad cards would become great if discounted by 1. I don’t really like this kind of draw, but I have to say that it looks much better than Infest. While Beasts seem inherently stronger in Hunter, that is not the case for Mech Hunter specifically. In that deck, you’d rather get random Mechs than Beasts, which makes it an upside.
I dislike this kind of draw because you need to have some kind of board presence for it to work, and the effect is delayed. You can technically combo it with Unleash the Hounds, but if you UTH, you’re usually behind on the board, and when you’re behind on the board you want to do something else than getting more value. Not to mention that it’s hard to say whether Mech Hunter will even want to play UTH in the first place.
Whether this sees play or not heavily depends on how fast and aggressive Mech Hunters will be. If they will be an Aggro or a fast Midrange deck, then there will be no room for a card like that. Value generators with no tempo, which are dead cards in the late game are not good in aggressive decks. If they will be a slow Midrange or something like that, then I could totally see it being their refill. They would still probably want to play Deathstalker Rexxar, but you don’t draw it every turn. I’d say that getting 2 random cards from it is okay-ish, and it takes like 3 targets for it to be good (since it’s delayed). It might not be that difficult to get to that point.
P.S. Maybe in Spell Hunter, to combo with UTH and Spellstone? I doubt, because it doesn’t seem very reliable or necessary, and it’s a completely dead card by itself.
Card rating: 2/10 if Mech Hunter will be Aggro, 6/10 if it will be slower
Pogo-Hopper
I have no clue whether this card is viable or not, but it will surely be fun. While it starts slowly, it has synergies with all kinds of Rogue cards. Now the Lab Recruiter reveal makes even more sense – those two have insane combo! Shuffling more copies of Pogo-Hopper into your deck is great. I mean, starting with the third one it’s insane tempo play. 2 mana 5/5, then 7/7, then 9/9 etc. We all know how powerful a big Edwin can be if your opponent has no answer, and this will be like Edwin after Edwin after Edwin. You force your opponent to have so many answers. If you draw well, it should even grow faster than Jade cards.
Now, there are two problems with a deck like that. First of all – you need some way to actually DRAW your first copy of this card. Elven Minstrel can help, but it doesn’t guarantee it. Maybe Witchwood Piper? But then you can’t play any 1-drops, and it can still draw another 2-drop. If you build your entire deck around it, you want to start the chains as quickly as possible. Starting with a 1/1, 3/3 and 5/5 in the late game is not great, the game will often be lost by that point. Another issue is that we still might need some more ways to copy it, because bouncing it is not good. Yes, you can Shadowstep or Youthful Brewmaster it, but all it does is giving it +2/+2. It might be good AFTER your Pogo-Hopper is damaged, so you can also heal it up, but ideally you will want cards that copy, such as Zola the Gorgon or Sonya Shadowdancer (but since it doesn’t have Rush or Charge, it might be difficult to combo them together). Valeera the Hollow is also big, because you can play every Pogo-Hopper twice, doubling the card’s potential. The deck would also be bad against Aggro, but that was always a problem with slower Rogue deck and I don’t think that anything can be done about it. It looks like it will be very difficult to pull off… but people, including me, will definitely try it.
The card can also be slotted into Quest Rogue, but I really don’t think that it will make another comeback after the nerfs. While the card is great after you finish the Quest, it doesn’t really help you finishing it, which is the main issue (because the deck is already powerful after you finish it).
Card rating: My mind is telling me no, but my body… my body is telling me yes. Most likely a 3/10, but I believe and rate it 8/10.
Omega Assembly
The card is amazing. By far the best of Omega cards so far. I’d even say that it’s one of the better cards revealed so far. Discovering a Mech for 1 mana is your Standard Raven Idol, Hallucination, Blazing Invocation etc. 1 mana discovers are quite common and get one relatively often. Some of them were good enough to be playable, others were just slightly too weak, but I have to say that in general, those cards are okay in the right deck.
So, Discovering a Mech for 1 mana is average. The card would be like a 5/10, it might see some play in Mech Warrior, but it wouldn’t be exciting. However, the Omega effect makes it way, way more powerful. In the long games versus slow decks, when you really need value, you get 3 random Mechs for 1 mana (getting all 3 options from Discover is basically getting 3 random cards – except you will never get duplicates). That’s an amazing value tool. Most of the high value cards make you lose tempo, but not this one. 1 mana is often irrelevant so late into the game and you can squeeze it into most of your turns. If you’ve played Dr. Boom, Mad Genius already, then those three Mechs will also have Rush. If Mech Warrior will be a thing, this card will 100% see play. To be honest, the Omega value is so good that it might see play even outside of the Mech decks. Even without extra synergies, getting 3 random Mechs in the late game for just 1 mana is a great refill.
Card rating: 9/10
Gloop Sprayer
This is one of those cards that seem theoretically very powerful, but end up being pretty clunky. Like, remember how hard was it to get a good Menagerie Warden? And it costed 2 mana less, and you needed to have only a single minion on the board. Yes, it was restricted to Beasts, but I think that overall this will be even harder to make work.
In most of the scenarios, this card is just bad or mediocre. If you have no board – it’s terrible, 8 mana 4/4. If you have small minions, it’s also bad – you wouldn’t play let’s say an 8 mana 4/4 that summons two small minions. One big minion is also meh – it’s like playing a Faceless Manipulator, then getting a 3 mana 4/4 body. Not the worst thing ever, but much more clunky than Faceless. So realistically, the only situation in which this card is amazing is copying two Midrange or even better – two big minions. 8 mana for let’s say a 4/4, The Lich King and Primordial Drake is nuts. Even something like 2x Ironwood Golem, for example, is pretty good.
The easiest way to make cards like that work is having a discounted minion. Like, if Arcane Giant was in Standard, this could be used much more easily. Right now we have a Mulchmuncher, which can get down to 0 mana, but that’s basically that would be be basically the only good combo in Treant/Token Druid.
I could see it being a part of some combo in the Wild, with Aviana and Kun the Forgotten King. Like those two + Malygos + Faceless Manipulator + this guy and you have 4x Malygos on the board (yes, that means 21 damage Moonfire). But since I’m rating cards in Standard, well… Maybe one of in some kind of Big Druid? I’m not sure, it definitely has potential to be broken, I just don’t see it yet. Seems like it can work sometimes, but is too clunky in general.
Card rating: 4/10
Crystology
I see that a lot of people are comparing this card to Small-Time Recruits. Rightfully so, because those seem similar and Recruits didn’t really see a whole lot of play. But those cards are fundamentally different. Drawing 1 cost minions will always get you 1-drops, which are pretty bad in the mid/late game. 1 ATTACK cards, on the other hand, don’t have to be that bad. If you play a deck with lots of 1 Attack cards anyway, and to be honest, a slower Paladin decks do, then it might be a great refill. Drawing 2 cards for 2 mana is always good to have, especially in Paladin, which isn’t known for the best card draw in the game.
Just to put it into perspective, here are some of the things you can draw with this card (of course not all in a single deck): Righteous Protector, Upgradeable Framebot, Acolyte of Pain, Stonehill Defender, Tar Creeper, Lynessa Sunsorrow… and I’ve probably missed something. Let’s say that you run a Mech deck with Protectors, Framebots and Stonehill Defenders – seems pretty fair, right? This card is already working very well in that kind of build. Drawing 2 cards for 2 mana, getting those cheaper cards from your deck so you can draw your mid/late game etc. And that’s only with the cards we know, maybe the deck will get another 1 Attack minion? Or maybe there will be another Neutral 1 Attack Mech (like a 1-drop)? If you play a Lynessa Sunsorrow deck, you also want to have at least one copy of this so you can reliably tutor her (so she’s not stuck at the bottom of your deck).
Overall, it looks like a really solid card. Of course, it’s not going to win the games by itself, but it’s nice support for any Paladin deck running lots of 1 Attack minions, and it’s not that hard to find those.
Card rating: 8/10
Boommaster Flark
I really think that this card should not be underestimated, at least in a Mech Hunter if that Archetype will turn out to be viable. While a 7 mana 5/5 is terrible, summoning FOUR Goblin Bombs is massive. Assuming you can trigger them, that’s 7 mana for a 5/5 + 8 face damage + possibly some extra synergies. Remember that the Bomb is actually a 1 mana card. Sure, it’s not the best one, but this is a 7 mana 5/5 that summons four 1-drops on play. It’s actually pretty crazy if you think about it that way.
And how can you trigger those, you might ask? There are some ways, actually. First and most obvious one is just letting your opponent trigger them. They’re a bit like an anti-AoE tech. When you play more onto the board (you will be limited to 3 minions on top of the Bombs, but that’s enough), there is a high chance that your opponent AoEs and clears them. Then, those are Mechs, so they’re great Magnetic catchers. If you buff them, it’s basically like giving the Mech you play Charge, which is nice. You can also use it as a great refill by playing Cybertech Chip before triggering them (so you will get extra Mechs on top of the damage). And Deathrattle Mechs might be the Hunter’s Mech theme this expansion (so far all of the Mech-related cards they’ve got are based around Deathrattle), so maybe the Legendary spell will have something to do with that too? Or maybe they will just get more synergy in general?
The worst thing about this card is probably that it gets countered hard by Spreading Plague. It alone gives FIVE Plague targets, and four of them have 0 attack… Another bad part is that it’s absolutely slow against Aggro. Spend 7 mana, no immediate effect, face damage is not that important etc. But it doesn’t necessarily disqualify it from seeing play.
By the way, in Wild this card has insane combo with Metaltooth Leaper. Your opponent doesn’t really want to AoE down your board, so you will probably have at least those 4 Mechs to buff next turn. Now he takes 8 damage immediately AND has to clear and take 8 more.
I wouldn’t sleep on this card. While it heavily depends on what other cards Hunter get, I see some potential in this one.
Card rating: 7/10
Goblin Bomb
As much as I think that Boommaster Flark has some potential, I wouldn’t say the same thing about this card. It would be so much better if it had Magnetic, but without it, it doesn’t look good. It’s a 0/2 Mech for 1 mana, so it can’t attack, and its only selling point is dealing 2 damage on Deathrattle. Unless you run a full face deck, dealing 2 damage in the early game is mostly irrelevant, board control is much more important. So what that you deal some damage if you can’t trade into your opponent’s stuff and he gets ahead, overwhelms you and wins the game anyway? That’s the basic story of this card. You need to activate it, but even if you do, it’s not impressive. Like, Dragon Egg was a good 1-drop with 0/2 stats, because activating it actually mattered – you often got 1 or 2 extra 2/1’s to fight for the board (OR deal damage).
If not for the Mech tag, Leper Gnome is just better right now. It doesn’t need to be activated and it can actually trade into something. And Leper Gnome is still a bad card after the old nerf (it used to be 2/1 if some of you didn’t play back then). Mech Tag means that minions can Magnetize into it… and maybe it activates some buffs, like Faithful Lumi… but the body is still pretty weak. I just don’t see how dropping this on Turn 1 could help with winning the game. The only way for this to be playable is if we get some 2 mana Magnetic or Mech-buff card, so it can at least attack. And even then, the 0/2 stats aren’t exactly thrilling, same goes for the effect.
Card rating: 2/10
Eternium Rover
If Dire Mole is a solid card, even in the decks that don’t have any kind of synergy with Beast tribe, I don’t see why wouldn’t this one be good. It’s a 1 mana 1/3, with two upsides – Mech tag and some Armor gain potential. It seems to fit into two kinds of deck lists. First of all, aggressive Warrior builds – it’s like a better Dire Mole there. Even if you can’t take advantage of the Mech tag, the extra Armor might come handy in the Aggro mirrors. And the second kind of build is Control Mech Warrior (which looks like the main Warrior’s theme for this expansion), where it’s a nice, anti-Aggro 1-drop with a Mech upside. It’s a solid, cheap body to slam Magnetize onto, and giving it more health potentially means more Armor gain. It’s so good that it might even fit into a non-Mech Control Warrior builds. Armorsmith was dropped mostly because 1 attack is not that good on a 2-drop, but it’s very acceptable on a 1-drop – you can trade with Dire Mole, Righteous Protector, Fire Fly etc. basically gaining some early game board control AND usually around 4 Armor on top of that.
Even though it’s not really a build-around card and doesn’t push the Warrior’s power that much (the class already has lots of anti-Aggro tools), it’s powerful for a 1-drop, it fits into different decks, you wouldn’t mind dropping it on T1, but your Aggro opponents will hate to see that. It’s just very good. Even better if we get some 2-drop Mech with Magnetize.
Card rating: 9/10
Mechanical Whelp
It’s quite interesting card, and I feel like lots of people are underrating it. The Cabal Shadow Priest argument is just silly. It would only be relevant if Priest would absolutely dominate the ladder and every build would run it. Right now, the card is in 2% of the decks on the ladder. You will play against it once in 50 games on average, and your opponent might not even draw it then. Silence argument is better – it’s a popular tech and might get even more popular in Boomsday. That said, Silence doesn’t necessarily disqualify this card, because you would ideally play in the decks that have synergy with it and/or can proc it immediately. Not to mention that you often play it in Mech decks, who have Magnetize, so Silence might be already used by the time you drop it.
First deck that comes to mind is the Deathrattle Mech Hunter, a deck that is already taking shape. On top of the normal Deathrattle triggers Hunter has – Play Dead and Terrorscale Stalker, the new Fireworks Tech can also trigger it. This + Fireworks Tech in the late game is a massive play – you have 3/3, 2/1 and 7/7 on the board, and that 3/3 will Deathrattle into another 7/7. In Mech Warrior, after you play Dr. Boom, Mad Genius, this card gets Rush, so you can pop it immediately (deal 2 damage to a minion) and then still have a 7/7 Rush minion. Great play for 6 mana. Even the new Deathrattle Priest might be looking at this card – with Reckless Experimenter on the board, it becomes a 3 mana 7/7 (which is even better than a 4 mana 7/7). If you build a Deathrattle deck with Zerek's Cloning Gallery, it can also be a great choice.
It’s not a game-breaking card, but as you can see, it has some solid synergies. I think that it will see some play in the upcoming meta, just not in the decks that have no synergy with it.
Card rating: 6/10
Fireworks Tech
This card has a very specific niche, it can basically be played only in Hunter Mech decks with Mech Deathrattle cards. It doesn’t make any sense to run it anywhere else. In regular deck, it will most likely be a 2 mana 2/1 without an effect. If you run it in a Mech deck WITHOUT Deathrattles, then you might just as well play Fallen Sun Cleric, it’s more flexible. But in its specific niche, it can be pretty powerful.
If you hit a Mech, it’s technically a 3/2 minion, so it has a solid stat-line. Triggering Deathrattle is also a very powerful effect. All in all, it can be compared to a less flexible Terrorscale Stalker. Which still makes it a great card, as Stalker is almost broken in the right deck. If you build a Deathrattle Mech deck you want to play both anyway.
Ideally, it would be nice to have another 1-drop Mech with Deathrattle that isn’t a Goblin Bomb, because Bomb is pretty bad to be honest. But even without it, it already has some solid synergies – e.g. triggering Spider Bomb to immediately clear a minion. You can also combo it with Mechanical Whelp to get a massive 7/7 minion on top of the buff. Cool stuff. But since Terrorscale Stalker is already a thing (and can do pretty much the same thing as this card and more), I think that people are overhyping it a bit.
Card rating: 7/10
Eureka!
I see people comparing it to Ancestor's Call a lot, and while it’s fair, lots of folks are missing one important thing. Eureka summons a COPY of a minion from your hand, which in my opinion makes it much better than Ancestor’s Call in the kind of strategy you’d want to use it in. Once you summon a minion with Ancestor’s Call, it’s no longer in your hand. And with Eureka – it’s still there and you can play it up to 3 times.
In Malygos build, which is the most obvious choice for this card, it means that you can e.g. Eureka + Lightning Storm if you desperately need that board clear (and 7-8 damage will most likely clear everything), but then you still have second Eureka for the combo. And then you have the regular Malygos too. Instead of having a single chance that your opponent won’t be able to answer Maly, you have three of them too. In “Big Shaman” builds that would be the second choice for this card, it means that you put a threat on the board and don’t lose a threat in your hand. E.g. you can summon some big minion up to 3 times.
It also combos really well with Electra Stormsurge. On Turn 9, by combining those two, you can make a really solid board – 3/3 + two big minions, or 2x Malygos. I imagine that most of the decks wouldn’t be able to answer that.
Now, onto the problems. When it comes to Malygos Shaman, there’s some redundancy. Shudderwock Shaman is already a combo deck. Although I wouldn’t immediately dismiss the Malygos build, Druid matchups are terrible when compared to Shudderwock. Even if you can deal 28 damage (2x Lightning Bolt + 2x Frost Shock), Druid will probably be at 50 or even more health by that time. It has so much insane Armor gain that the matchups would be nearly unwinnable. On the other hand, Shudderwock’s combo is “infinite”, so it can often go through all of that Armor over a few turns. And when it comes to Big Shaman, when it comes to your late game, you’d need to rely on the Neutral options. Shaman has no good late game, “big” minions. Al'Akir the Windlord is about the only one, but to be honest, he’s not that great standalone minion, he’s better when combo’d with some attack buffs like Flametongue. So, the deck would need to rely heavily on Neutral cards, such as The Lich King or Charged Devilsaur. And would it really be any better than other “Big” decks like Druid or Warrior?
Overall, this card has some solid potential, but it might not see play right away.
Card rating: 8/10
The Boomship
Even though Dr. Boom, Mad Genius is a Mech-centered card, his Legendary spell doesn’t necessarily seem to be one (even though the artwork would suggest otherwise). While you COULD play this in a slower Mech Warrior, it seems a bit redundant. Your Mechs should already have Rush quite often when you play them, and you might have some cheap stuff in your hand, so it would get pretty awkward.
However, where this spell might shine is Big/Recruit Warrior. You often end up with those awkward hands, where you draw your big minions before you can Recruit them. If that’s the case, you can just summon all of them on the board and give them Rush. It’s a massive play, because not only you clear 3 minions (most likely), but you end up with a big board. Big Warrior plays cards like Charged Devilsaur or Grommash Hellscream too, which means that a big burst turn is also possible. To be honest, you COULD even build a combo deck around it – 2x Devilsaur + Grom + Inner Rage is 26 damage. But that’s a 5 cards combo and it gets stopped by Taunts, so it might not be the best thing ever.
Pretty cool card, it won’t fit into many Warrior decks, but it can be useful in the slow builds running big minions. And maybe some combo deck will be built around it eventually.
Card rating: 7/10
Missile Launcher
A really interesting card. The best point of comparison would probably be Dread Infernal. This has a significantly weaker body, but the AoE is repeated. Another point of comparison would be Baron Geddon – while it costs 1 more, it has a much better body and deals 2 AoE instead of one. And, to be honest, it kind of pales in comparison with both of those. It has Magnetic, so it can also be used as a buff, which is always a nice thing. The craziest combo would obviously be this card + Toxic Arrow. Giving it Poisonous means that it’s a full board clear every single turn. However, keep the word “full” in mind – it would also clear all the minions YOU have, so the only way to get more stats on the board would be buffing this guy. It’s of course great, but it’s still an 8 mana, 2 cards combo in Hunter, a class that isn’t necessarily known for great cycling capabilities. If it was meant to be great, players would at least experiment with the same combo on Geddon, but it never really was a thing. Another cute combo is Snowchugger in Wild. Since you damage everything, you freeze everything each turn, which can potentially win a game if your opponent has no Silence/direct removal.
It’s a cool card, but it’s usability is mostly tied to the how the meta looks like. 6 mana for a 4/4 body is terrible, so the effect simply needs to be great in order to compensate for that. If board flood decks such as Odd Paladin or Zoo Warlock are all over the ladder, then this card might make sense in Mech decks. If not, it’s probably too week. So I’d say that it’s an okay tech card, but nothing more than that.
Card rating: 3/10
Academic Espionage
Another insane card from this expansion. On the one hand, shuffling a bunch of random cards into your deck was never a good thing. On the other hand, those cards now cost 1 mana each. Exactly, 1 mana. So, on average, a huge discount will be applied.
On the one hand, I already want to play around with it. On the other, from the competitive side, I absolutely dislike this card, because there is A LOT of RNG involved. Such RNG cards are fun if they’re bad, but this one might not be. While I know that it’s somewhat of the best case scenario, imagine losing a game as a Druid to a Rogue drawing a 1 mana Ultimate Infestation from this, into a bunch of other 1 mana stuff from your class? It would feel horrible.
This card will obviously be an auto-include in Burgle/Pick Pocket/Tess Greymane Rogue, since it specifically synergizes with cards from other classes. It will make it much easier to keep the weapon (Spectral Cutlass) alive, and Tess is going to be huge once you drop her. Will it be good enough to put the deck into the meta? Hard to say, but it might be.
Basically, the only downside of this card is spending 4 mana for no immediate effect (well, you can always Preparation it, but that’s still 2 cards for no immediate effect). That said, with 10 cards shuffled, you should be able to “take” that mana back quite quickly, often after the first card you draw. And of course, you can still end up getting a bunch of bad cards that cost 0-2 mana anyway and the discount will be wasted. But the pool of bad cards is considerably smaller when everything costs 1 anyway. Like, normally you wouldn’t be happy with getting something like Cruel Dinomancer. 6 mana 5/5 is bad. But a 1 mana 5/5 is suddenly pretty damn good.
Another cool synergy is the one with Myra's Unstable Element. Not only you can get a full hand, but if you play this afterwards, you still end up with a bunch of cards in your deck. And each one of them is discounted. I could see Miracle Rogue with the Legendary Spell running a single copy of this card just to make that combo work. But even without Myra, remember that Rogues have some nice way to cycle or draw cards. Like, playing this during Gadgetzan Auctioneer turn. Or playing Prep + Sprint after. Or even dropping an Elven Minstrel and hoping to draw some good 1 mana minion (doesn’t have to be great, some random 4/4 is still great tempo-wise). And after you overcome the initial tempo loss of this card, it will just start getting value.
I honestly think that this card is broken, and not necessarily in terms of power (because yeah, it still does nothing immediately) – but I still think it’s pretty damn strong. I feel like it might get nerfed in a way Yogg-Saron, Hope's End was – even if it wasn’t completely broken on the ladder, it just ruined the competitive play.
Card rating: 8/10
Crystalsmith Kangor
I honestly expected something bigger, potentially with Mech synergy. But I’m always interested to see cheap Legendaries, from the design standpoint. They’re really hard to make interesting – on the one hand, you want the effect to be cool and strong, but on the other, you can’t make it too impactful, since it would be overpowered if you could drop it very early in the game. This is a great example of a well-designed cheap Legendary – okay body, can be dropped on the curve, the effect is strong, but it’s not very impactful early in the game and it can scale well into the late game.
The problem I have with this card is that it simply doesn’t fit into many decks right now. If it was a Mech, I would see it being played in Mech Paladin just for the body – 2 mana 1/2 with Lifesteal and Divine Shield is comparable to cards such as Shielded Minibot (trades 1 Attack for Lifesteal) or Annoy-o-Tron (trades Taunt for Lifesteal). But no Mech tag makes it significantly weaker, because you won’t be able to synergize it with Magnetic cards.
The effect itself is really powerful on a 2 mana body, but only in the right deck and in the right scenario. First, you need a deck that actually heals. While doubling the Lifesteal of this card is cool, it’s not really enough. You probably want to run it in a Control-ish Paladin with other healing cards. The sad thing is that lots of them, such as Forbidden Healing, have rotated out with Year of the Raven, so there aren’t many thrilling options (more might get printed). It synergizes really well with Uther of the Ebon Blade too – doubles the weapon healing from 5 to 10. Now, onto the right scenario. Doubling the healing is relevant only when you’re pretty low on health. If you have 20 health and you aren’t under any threat of dying, then doubling healing is a bit pointless. You want to double it against Aggro, where every point of health matters, as well as against combo decks, but only the kind that can’t OTK you.
I feel like it’s one of those effects that are strong in vacuum, but might just not be very useful in the actual in-game decks and scenarios. Right now, I’d say that if anything, the card will be played for its body, and the effect will be a nice addition that can come handy sometimes. Like, you wouldn’t mind pulling it out from Call to Arms, it has 1 Attack so it can get drawn by Crystology, 1/2 body with Divine Shield ain’t that bad to drop on T2 against Aggro, it can be useful in Corpsetaker deck. Because of the effect, the Lifesteal on him will double, so he will usually heal for 4 (although healing on Turn 2 is sometimes irrelevant, because you might be at full health anyway). It’s a solid card overall, and has a potential to become very powerful in the right deck and in the right meta.
Card rating: 6/10 standalone, 8/10 in a deck with healing
Cosmic Anomaly
Mage is getting some solid Spell Damage minions and synergies this expansion, and I like it. This card seems pretty powerful, but only in the right deck. You could say that technically since Evolved Kobold has seen play, this also might. But that was when Emperor Thaurissan was in play, and Kobold would be just as strong as this one in Freeze Mage, since it’s the Spell Damage part you cared about anyway.
Thanks to the body, however, this might see play in regular decks, unlike a 2/2 Kobold. 4/3 for 4 is still not great, but it’s a 3 mana worth of stats for 4 mana, not a ~1.5 mana of stats for 4 mana. 3 health is harder to take down than 2, and 4 attack means that it can pack some punch if it survives. It’s about as good as it can get on a +2 Spell Damage minion… Spell Damage is a pretty expensive mechanic. Like, remember cards like Spellweaver or Darkmire Moonkin? They’re way, way more severely under-statted than this one.
As for where it might be useful. Tempo Mage is the first candidate. The deck’s 4 mana slot is awkward right now, with Lifedrinker, which honestly isn’t the best card. Is this better? Hard to say. Right now I’d say they’re similar. On the one hand, Lifedrinker is guaranteed to deal 3 and heal for 3. This one isn’t, but as soon as you combo it with at least 2 spells, it deals more damage. Plus it has a better body. Not to mention that the spells can be used for board control – like 5 damage Frostbolt to clear some Taunt and keep your minions alive. That said, I feel like the deck would really need another cheap damage spell before really taking advantage of this effect.
The deck I could see this most useful in some kind of Spell Damage. A deck that specifically runs Spell Damage minions along cheap spells to make them much stronger. Just to give you an example – the new Shooting Star spell is perfect for this kind of build. 1 damage to 3 minions for 1 mana is okay, but 3 damage to 3 minions for 1 mana is bonkers. Same goes with something like a simple Arcane Explosion – it’s 3 AoE damage with +2 Spell Damage. Those kind of spells benefit most from Spell Damage. Too bad Arcane Blast is not in Standard, because it would be amazing with this card too. That’s the main problem I see – not enough cheap, damage spells. But we still have a few cards left to be revealed, so there is still some chance that we’ll get another one.
Overall, the card definitely has lots of potential. It’s +2 Spell Damage on a solid body, with an Elemental tag. It will see play sooner or later. Might not be now, because it feels too slow for the Burn Mage, and the Spell Damage build is not fleshed out enough yet.
Card rating: 8/10
Shooting Star
I like this card. Dealing 3 damage for 1 mana is obviously powerful, so it’s just a matter of how well you will be able to use it. For one, it works extremely well as a sort of mini-AoE against board flood decks, like Odd Paladin or Zoo Warlock. It’s a cheap spell, so it can give your Mana Wyrm +1 Attack, be discounted to 0 with Sorcerer's Apprentice etc. It’s basically a controlled version of Arcane Missiles (which also scales better with Spell Damage). In an aggressive deck, you’d prefer Missiles, since they can hit face. But if you play a more board-control oriented deck, Missiles hitting face is just bad for you.
There are two main problems with this card. First, by itself it’s really meta-dependent. In a faster, board-flood meta, it has insane tempo potential. Like clearing three small minions for 1 mana. And second, there is no deck it would really fit into. Tempo Mage prefers Missiles, and Control Mages don’t want to play it because it ruins Dragon's Fury (and Raven Familiar to a certain extent). So is there a deck you would want ot put it into at all?
Well, just like in case of Arcane Anomaly, there might not be one yet, but I feel like Spell Damage Mage can be a thing. This card has insane synergy with Spell Damage. You could play it either alongside Anomaly, or Celestial Emissary to deal 3 damage to 3 targets. Usually more than enough to clear early game boards vs Aggro. Even +1 Spell Damage (e.g. Bloodmage Thalnos) might be good enough, pushing it up to 2 damage. Right now that’s the kind of deck this card would go into.
In the future, who knows? Especially after Dragon's Fury rotates out, Control Mage will no longer be inclined to remove all of the cheap spells from the deck. This will be a solid tech card against board-flood heavy metas. While it might not seem very powerful right now, I like it.
Card rating: 7/10
Zerek, Master Cloner
Interesting mechanic, but I think that it might be on the weaker side. On the one hand, the potential is massive. Being able to revive it over and over again is incredibly powerful, basically better than any other Deathrattle card. But there’s a catch – it’s very hard to make it work.
First of all, it’s useless by itself. 6 mana 5/5 with no effect whatsoever. Only after you cast a spell on it, it “activates” itself. So it’s not really a 6 mana play, but at least a 7 mana play. Another issue is that Priest doesn’t have enough cheap buffs to cast on him. Power Word: Shield is one, but what after that? Divine Spirit is not really an option, because you don’t run this in Combo Priest. Binding Heal is okay, but only after it’s already on the board and takes some damage. Unidentified Elixir is the only other flexible buff that you can run, and it’s not the best card ever, plus the combo is 9 mana. Maybe Vivid Nightmare too, especially if you run deck with lots of Deathrattles. Maybe if you combine Vivid Nightmare AND Binding Heal, it can be nice. For 10 mana you end up with two 5/5 bodies that both come back on Deathrattle. Not the best play ever, but pretty good.
It’s weak to Silence, but that’s not a big issue in a Deathrattle Priest – most of the cards you play are weak to Silence, and this one doesn’t get completely countered like Lynessa Sunsorrow. The problem is that right now it’s pretty hard to activate. You don’t really want to keep your Shields just for this guy, and there aren’t other great cards you can use to activate it. And ideally, you want to activate him more than once to make him worth it – otherwise you’d just run Cairne Bloodhoof and don’t bother with casting extra spells on it.
Realistically, in order for this to be playable, you really need another cheap way to buff it. If a good 1-2 mana buff spell gets printed, then this card has some solid potential. If not, I don’t see it working right now.
Card rating: 4/10 right now, or 7/10 if another good, cheap buff spell gets revealed
