The Comprehensive Day of Rebirth Preview

 

Bat Mask

Probably the funkiest mask of the set, one that can, in theory, represent a win condition by itself. For example, if we play a deck with Ysera and ramp, we can combo this Mask with Incindius and shuffle five 8 damage Eruptions to our deck. Ragnaros is another hilarious target, but one that is even more difficult to execute.

There is no realistic usage for this spell that is not meant to end the game. We could use it on a high value deathrattle, but this requires the minion to be ignored by the opponent. Bat Mask is simply too expensive to be consistently useful and is more likely to sit in our hand for large periods of time without ever being cast.

We do not think the Incindius win condition is real.

Score: 1

Possessed Animancer

A Possessed Lackey for beasts. Animancer costs 6 mana on release, with its best activator looking like Conflagrate. The second best card we have is ‘Eat! The! Imp!’. The only good beast that benefits from the lifesteal and we can cheat out with this card is Asphyxiodon, which we will talk about shortly. Perhaps Meadowstrider is another one to look at.

Considering the cost and the absence of support, Animancer does not seem that great. However, the current meta is slow and less likely to punish a Warlock dropping Animancer to the board on turn 6. It offers a small(4-5 cards) survivability package that is not difficult to throw into a defensive minded Warlock deck. It is a low hanging fruit that is worth exploring.

Score: 2

Asphyxiodon

Animancer’s best friend. Never a card we want to play from hand, but one we want to cheat out and give lifesteal to, as it dually benefits from the keyword. Voidlord was not a card we ever wanted to spend full mana on either.

Asphyxiodon’s competitive prospects are tied to Animancer. This package is easy to throw into a slow Warlock deck and test out. The deckbuilding cost is low, which is why we are more optimistic about this package than others.

Score: 2

Final Thoughts: Slow Warlock decks have some new things to test out, with a small, self-contained Animancer package, as well as the funniest mask of the set. Even if they do not make an immediate impact, we can see these cards being useful down the road.