The Comprehensive Day of Rebirth Preview

 

Firegill

Firegill’s Murloc tag means that it is trivial to activate in Quest Paladin. The ability is extremely powerful, equivalent to Animated Broomstick, which was a meta defining card at its time. While Firegill does cost more mana, its synergy in Quest Paladin is insane, as it turns all its minions into potential removal for massive swing turns. With the archetype’s stats scaling in the late game, Firegill turns can completely blow the opponent out of the water.

We can already see how important Grunty is to the deck due to its comeback potential and synergy with the quest’s stats scaling. Now Quest Paladin gets an additional comeback card to its toolkit, which means falling behind on board is hardly a death sentence for the deck. If the health total does not hit zero, there is a way back for Quest Paladin to beat the opponent off the board and take over.

Score: 4

Hatching Ceremony

A setup card that buffs our minions at the end of our next turn. The buff is sizable and can be considered strong enough if it hits three minions, but the delay risks us falling behind. If we are playing a board flooding deck, skipping turn 3 could end up losing us the game.

The card also suffers from redundancy. We are not sure why we would ever consider Hatching Ceremony when Crusader Aura provides an immediate impact that complements a proactive game plan better, does not risk us falling behind, and snowballs harder.

No chance of Quest Paladin running this card, when the archetype does not even run Crusader Aura. Aggro Paladin is the best candidate to utilize this card, but we believe it skips it. Crusader Aura and Flash Sale seem outright better.

Score: 1

Hero’s Welcome

Another Ursol target. Hero’s Welcome offers a lot of stats if it is cast three times, with the possibility of having strong static effects or deathrattles attached to the 10/10 bodies through the random legendary.

However, Hero’s Welcome does not provide a guaranteed stabilizing play, nor does it guarantee damage. The opponent can still theoretically deal with the threats through removal. Our suspicion is that Renewed Flame will remain the superior Ursol target, one that does not interfere with Divine Maul’s tutoring capabilities and offers guaranteed damage and sustain, a powerful combination that keeps it relevant for every matchup.

Score: 1

Final Thoughts: Firegill is a big boost in Quest Paladin’s survivability against other aggressive decks and should make it increasingly difficult to keep the deck off the board in the late game. The other two cards are forgettable.