The Comprehensive Ashes of Outland Preview

 

Ethereal Augmerchant

Spell damage is not really something you’re actively looking for in most Hearthstone decks when picking a 1-drop, and it’s probably not going to change in this expansion.

Score: 1

Guardian Augmerchant

This is a powerful 1-drop. Divine Shield is worth more than 1 health in a lot of situations. Can enable big value trades similarly to Beaming Sidekick. Aggressive decks will most definitely consider it. Of course, like all Augmerchants, it can act as a 2/1 Elven Archer to finish off something with 1 health.

Score: 3

Classes: Aggro decks

Rocket Augmerchant

This is another decent option for a fast-paced deck. As we already know, Goblin Lackey can have a lot of impact on the game, and this is a similar card in a collectible form. Not as powerful as Guardian, but decent.

Score: 2

Classes: Aggro decks

Soulbound Ashtongue

This card might see play in some aggressive decks that either don’t care about the drawback or can turn it into a benefit. Mostly looking at Warlock with self-damage synergies and Priest with lifesteal.

Score: 2

Classes: Priest, Warlock

Infectious Sporeling

Pretty cool design, but opponents are unlikely to let you attack with it and let you have a free Polymorph effect.

Score: 1

Bonechewer Brawler

The only class that may look at Brawler is Warrior, and even then, there are already better enrage targets available, as well as better taunt minions for slower decks.

Score: 1

Imprisoned Vilefiend

This card is interesting, because attaching the Rush keyword on a dormant minion means it is inactive for one less turn compared to other dormant minions. If you play this on turn 2, it’s ready to attack on turn 4. Still, it’s hard to find a home for this card but it isn’t unplayable.

Score: 2

Rustworn Initiate

This card seems so pointless.

Score: 1

Mo’arg Artificer

This card has a strong spell damage-like effect, and it could be a good option for decks that don’t develop a lot of minions and can ideally utilize cheap spells to pick off the opponent’s board. Slower, defensive decks are prime candidates to run this card.

Score: 2

Classes: Control decks.

Frozen Shadoweaver

The 3-drop version of Glacial Shard. The bigger body turns it from a stalling card in a deck that looks to survive, into a more aggressive card that uses the freeze to get ahead on the board. Strong 3-drop neutrals are not common in the current card pool, so we can see some decks filling their curve with this one.

Score: 2

Classes: Demon Hunter, Mage

Overconfident Orc

This feels like a Tar Creeper kind of card. It’s very sticky and annoying to deal with, and it’s obviously very strong when the opponent doesn’t have an easy way to ping it. However, it does get punished by pings and then it’s a lot easier to trade into than Tar Creeper. Might become an option in defensive decks that want to stall the game.

Score: 3

Classes: Control or Highlander decks

Terrorguard Escapee

Just another card printed for the sole purpose of making Resurrect Priests miserable.

Score: 1

Blistering Rot

A 3-mana Echoing Ooze with a persistent effect. We would be more interested in this card if it summoned a direct copy, as it would have forced our opponent to deal with both minions (otherwise, it would continue to split). However, dealing with one minion shouldn’t be overly difficult considering the weak initial stats. Even in optimistic scenarios, Rot doesn’t seem to be a big threat.

Score: 1

Teron Gorefiend

Could Deathrattle decks be making their return to Standard? Teron is a pretty absurd activator of any deathrattle minion. He’s basically an AOE version of Carnivorous Cube. Any class with strong deathrattle minions, especially early game ones, is going to think about a deck that involves him.

Score: 3

Classes: Hunter, Priest, Warlock

Burrowing Scorpid

This thing is scary and worth the mana cost if it activates and reaches stealth form. The 2 damage helps you with board control while that 5 attack hits the dome. Seems like a card that was made for an aggressive Stealth Rogue deck.

Score: 2

Classes: Rogue

Disguised Wanderer

Another spooky card. It’s probably not good enough to see competitive play, but this comment could look silly a month from now. It’s all fun and games until you get smashed for 9. We just struggle to see a way to abuse this.

Score: 1

Felfin Navigator

Pretty nutty card for every murloc deck. Good stats and snowballing potential. Murlocs in standard needed something like this.

Score: 3

Classes: Paladin, Shaman

Rustworn Cultist

Another good neutral that can help board flooding decks stick to the board. You’re particularly looking at Bloodlust and Savage Roar as having good synergy with this.

Score: 2

Classes: Druid, Shaman

Replicat-o-tron

Fun looking card. Seems to go into the decks that Blistering Rot goes into since they both have the buff synergy going for them, but this just doesn’t look like a promising package.

Score: 1

Magtheridon

This card has a unique effect and it’s quite difficult to predict how it pans out. The biggest issue we see with this card is Faceless Corruptor. It makes it unlikely that simply dropping this guy on 4 is going to be a good move. There are other counterplays available to punish a standalone Mag, so we want to combo this with a removal spell so we can immediately get the Deathwing effect off. There are a couple of classes with potential control decks and the removal required to activate it. The 12/12 on top of the Twisting Nether is just so backbreaking against any deck that’s reliant on having the initiative, so it’s worth trying to build around. If it doesn’t work out immediately, it might just be a matter of time until it does.

Score: 2

Classes: Warlock, Warrior

Maiev Shadowsong

This is a pure tempo card, in a good way. Sending a minion into dormancy can be game winning in fast matchups since by the time the minion comes back, the game could already be out of reach. Unlike other people though, we don’t think this card simply goes into every deck in a similar fashion to Zilliax. Slow and defensive decks are less likely to want this card. Decks with strong hard removal options may also decide to leave it out. Maiev is mostly going to shine in fast decks that can quickly snowball off her or decks that lack good hard removal and would settle for a temporary delay in dealing with a threat. It’s also a pseudo-replacement for Spellbreaker to get past a taunt.

Score: 4

Classes: Plenty of them.

Ruststeed Raider

Looks like pack-filler but kinda isn’t. The issue is that you’re not getting the value on paper from this card if you don’t hit something for 5. It’s a worse Militia Commander, and probably not good enough.

Score: 1

Waste Warden

Sweet tech card against tribal decks. Really well designed and will likely see play at some point in its existence. If you hit two minions with it, it’s already worth the investment, so it doesn’t have to be a tech against board flooding decks where you wipe 4-5 of their minions.

Score: 2

Classes: Tech card.

Al’ar

Kael’thas must be pissed that his bird is so useless. It really could have had one more health and it wouldn’t have broken the game. Too easy to remove.

Score: 1

Dragonmaw Sky Stalker

This dragon is slightly better than Cairne Bloodhoof. Cairne was great in 2014.

Score: 1

Scavenging Shivarra

This one dropped out from the Priestess of Fury academy.

Score: 1

Kael’Thas Sunstrider

We’re going to make a bold call here and give this a 4. Just our gut feeling.

Score: 4

Classes: Demon Hunter, Druid, Mage, Shaman

Bonechewer Vanguard

Some of the neutrals in this set really make you think. Then you look at the class cards again and meet reality.

Score: 1

Supreme Abyssal

We prefer attacking heroes.

Score: 1

Scrapyard Colossus

That’s a big minion for big decks. If there’s a class that can cheat this out unfairly, it’s a hell of a target since it provides you with both pressure and protection. At some point in the next two years, we’ll probably see a big deck making its way into the meta and it will likely run this card.

Score: 2

Class: Druid, Shaman, Warlock