Path of Arthas: Epics and Legendaries
Might of Menethil
This is a pretty good weapon if you’re interested in hitting your opponent in the head while stalling their ability to pressure you back. The main problem of Might of Menethil is the availability of Marrow Manipulator. Both are significant corpse spenders and Frost Death Knight may not have an easy time fitting both cards unless they go heavy on minions. You also have no control over the number of corpses spent by MoM. If you have 3 corpses and your opponent has 3 targets, all of them will be consumed.
Still, a 4 mana 4/2 weapon with a Flurry effect attached to it has to be good enough to see play at some point. Eight damage for 4 mana and further upside tends to be constructed worthy.
Score: 3
Blood Boil
This spell could be oppressive for board flooding decks looking to spread wide. A minion with 2 attack will just not deal any net damage to the opponent no matter what its health is once it’s infected. This could provide an insane amount of healing for Blood Death Knights, making it extremely difficult to finish them off. Blood Boil is likely going to be the card that defines Blood Death Knights’ ability to dominate these matchups. Must include if you have any ambition of building a successful defensive Blood Death Knight.
Score: 4
Frostwyrm’s Fury
This card is straight up cracked for 7 mana. Dealing 5 damage, summoning a 5/5 and casting a Frost Nova on the opponent’s board? These combined effects could be worth at least 10 mana if we’re being fair. This spell allows Frost Death Knights to stall the game while dealing damage and pressuring the opponent at the same time. You can usually do one of those things well. Doing both in a package of one card has all the hallmarks of a meta defining tool at the level of Ultimate Infestation. It’s going to be extremely hard for Frost Death Knight to build their deck in any way that’s not triple rune.
Score: 4
Lady Deathwhisper
An initially weak body and a slow effect, but what an effect! Deathwhisper already becomes a powerful card advantage tool if it manages to copy two spells with its deathrattle. Once you get to 3+ territory, this could be a game changer, especially when some of Frost Death Knight’s spells are potentially oppressive when copied further, like Frostwyrm’s Fury.
It does require us to run a high density of spells to take advantage of, and we’re not always going to be in the ideal scenario to play Deathwhisper and get max value from it. Still, you’ll be happy to run this in any late game strategy that’s centered on Frost Death Knight’s game winning spells.
Score: 3
Frostmourne
There are just so many better weapons to play in this class and this one is the worst of them all. A 7 mana 5/3 is horribly slow. The effect takes ages to resolve, and we don’t even want to play a 5/3 weapon to kill minions with. It was okay to get this from the Lich King in 2017. It doesn’t belong in a constructed deck in 2022.
Score: 1
The Scourge
There are small undeads. There are big undeads. Some of them have taunt, rush or lifesteal. A board full of random undeads can seal a game, but it is quite expensive at 9 mana. This is weak in faster matchups in which most games are determined before this card has a chance to come online. This card should shine in slow matchups, where the Unholy Death Knight needs enough threats to wear down a sturdy and defensively minded opponent. It will be a great and easy option to greed up for those. Would it have been the correct constructed call in most formats over the last few years? Not really, but this is a Renathal format card.
Score: 3
Closing Thoughts
Team 5 made the most out of Death Knight’s smaller card pool. Most cards are good, and even the weakest options clearly serve a niche that could be useful in the future. The class is set up for success. Unholy’s board control tools are second to none. Frost’s late game potential looks promising. Blood’s resilience will become clear once we look at Death Knight’s March of the Lich King set. What’s interesting to note is that Frost Death Knights should not need a single card from that set. They’re ready to go with the Core & Path of Arthas sets.
Where do we place Death Knight in the power rankings for the next format? Find out next week.
Core: Commons | Core: Rares | Core: Epics and Legendaries | Path of Arthas: Commons | Path of Arthas: Rares | Path of Arthas: Epics and Legendaries