The Comprehensive Descent of Dragons Preview

Blazing Battlemage

Good card for aggressive decks that want to run multiple 1-drops. The current pool of 1-drops in standard is very weak, so just a vanilla 2/2 should be able to find a home at some point.

Score: 3

Classes: Aggro decks

Depth Charge

This is a pseudo-Doomsayer for half the cost, which is a pretty good deal since 5 damage essentially destroys every minion in the early game. Could see play in Highlander Mage to provide some Doomsayer redundancy and a cheaper combo with freeze effects later in the game.

Score: 2

Classes: Mage

Hot Air Balloon

Solid 1-drop for aggressive mech decks, which were sorely missing 1-drops beyond Mecharoo. Health can really snowball with magnetic effects.

Score: 3

Classes: Hunter, Paladin

Dragon Breeder

This is a potentially good value card in dragon decks that can just be dropped on turn 2 in faster matchups. We think it could be particularly strong in Mage because of Luna’s Pocket Galaxy and Dragonqueen Alexstrasza offering ways to easily combo this card, while Malygos is one of the best possible targets for it

Score: 2

Classes: Mage

Evasive Chimaera

Pack filler. You’d never actively run it in a constructed deck, unless you want to spite us.

Score: 1

Grizzled Wizard

Nothing comes up that would merit running this effect.

Score: 1

Parachute Brigand

This card is very good and heavily pushes aggressive decks to run some early pirates in order to cheese this out. It’s like a watered-down Patches, which should still be a hell of a card.

Score: 3

Classes: Rogue, Warrior

Tasty Flyfish

Solid 2-drop for midrange dragon decks. Works well with Nightmare Amalgam.

Score: 2

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Paladin

Transmogrifier

A meme card and a pretty bad outcome from Faceless Lackey.

Score: 1

Wyrmrest Purifier

Pretty cool card. Could have some strange applications, with the most striking one being an enabler for Lightforged Crusader in Paladin. You could run an early game neutral package in a deck and “re-roll” it once you reach the late game with this. This is also a Hakkar/Bomb counter.

Score: 2

Classes: Paladin, Shuffle Tech

Bad Luck Albatross

This card is being a little overrated. It’s a very niche tech for highlander decks, but even against them, it’s not very reliable since it only shuffles 2 identical cards and it’s a deathrattle rather than a battlecry. Could also become a solid meme in a deck that repeatedly duplicates its deathrattle to shuffle garbage into your opponent’s deck.

Score: 2

Classes: Paladin, Hunter, Priest, Rogue

Blowtorch Saboteur

We’ve seen stronger 3-drops with these stats that saw no play. We don’t expect this one to be an exception. The effect is just nothing special.

Score: 1

Dread Raven

Ultimate wombo combo with Dire Frenzy and Tundra Rhino. Strong meme potential.

Score: 1

Fire Hawk

Mage could cheat this out on turn 1 with Elemental Evocation, and it would be a 5/3. That’s not bad, but will such an aggressive Mage deck exist? Seems unlikely, but possible.

Score: 2

Classes: Mage

Goboglide Tech

This card has potential in aggressive mech decks, the same ones that would be interested in Hot Air Balloon.

Score: 2

Classes: Hunter, Paladin

Living Dragonbreath

The effect is too narrow to be relevant.

Score: 1

Scalerider

Excellent card for any dragon deck, especially midrange variants that are prioritize tempo. This is a stronger SI:7 agent for this archetype.

Score: 3

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Paladin

Devoted Maniac

The weaker invoke neutral, but a card that is guaranteed to see play since it’s very important for most Galakrond decks. Strongest in Warrior and Shaman because of their tempo hero powers. Weakest in Priest.

Score: 2

Classes: Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior

Dragonmaw Poacher

Another tech card that’s being wildly overrated by many who think this will be a staple of the format. This is only a strong tech card against midrange dragon decks that are forced to play into this on turn 4. It’s not nearly as devastating later in the game, and not nearly as impactful against slower decks that utilize a package of late-game dragons. In any other matchup, this is a 4 mana 4/4, which is awful. The average outcome in the meta is unlikely to be positive, unless midrange dragon decks are a huge success.

Score: 2

Evasive Feywing

Strong card for a midrange dragon deck. Scales very well with off-board buffs (such as those present in Paladin and Druid). Puts a lot of pressure on passive decks that don’t aggressively contest the board.

Score: 3

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Paladin

Frizz Kindleroost

One of the strongest cards in the set, and an unconditional auto-include for any deck that runs a fair number of dragons. Frizz is one of our biggest nerf candidates due to how ubiquitous it may become and the lack of interaction and counterplay involved in its gameplay. Its effect is game-winning, yet it isn’t undersized for its cost as a 4 mana 5/4. Seeing the entire set has only further convinced us: Frizz is busted.

Score: 4

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Warlock, Warrior

Hippogryph

After the previous rant, it’s only natural we’ll take a small reprieve with some classic pack filler.

Score: 1

Hoard Pillager

Potentially very powerful in Pirate Warrior with Ancharr and Livewire Lance offering high-value targets for its battlecry quite early. Could be strong in other classes with an impactful weapon down the road.

Score: 3

Classes: Warrior

Troll Batrider

A new Bomb Lobber. This will see as much play as Bomb Lobber.

Narrator: Bomb Lobber saw no competitive play.

Score: 1

Wing Commander

Sounds spicy in theory but even if you have a couple of dragons in your hand early, is it worth running this card for a 4 mana 6/5 in a midrange dragon deck? When you consider other likely scenarios in which it’s a Chillwind Yeti or worse, we’re not impressed. This is also not a dragon, and a pretty terrible card to draw off the top.

Score: 1

Zul’drak Ritualist

This card serves only one purpose in current standard format, and that’s making Priests utterly miserable. For some players, this would be enough to give it a 4.

Score: 2

Classes: Resurrection tech

Big Ol’ Whelp

This card floored us when it was revealed. How is a 5 mana 5/5 dragon that draws a card balanced in any way, shape or form? Not only is this card an auto-include in any deck looking for even the slightest dragon synergy, it’s a card that non-dragon decks will consider as often as they did with Azure Drake. In fact, this card is more blatantly offensive than Azure Drake when it comes to its stats, so we’re thoroughly confused at its existence. Whelp better have good entrance and attack sounds because we’re going to hear it a lot.

It’s not going to burp like Sludge Belcher, right? It better not burp, Team 5.

Score: 4

Classes: All of them.

Chromatic Egg

Interesting card but one that’s unlikely to see play because it’s incredibly slow and unreliable.

Score: 1

Cobalt Spellkin

This is a very interesting dragon that’s particularly powerful in classes that have a narrow yet impactful range of 1-mana spells. Mage seems to be the best fit. Its 1-mana spells are extremely strong on average and Spellkin offers synergy with the class’ potential win conditions introduced in this expansion. We wouldn’t be surprised to see it find its way into other classes too, because there are several that could be interested in this card. A stumbling block is its tough competition with the blatantly overtuned Whelp, however.

Score: 2

Classes: Druid, Mage, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior

Faceless Corruptor

If you thought Big Ol’ Whelp was blatantly overtuned, how about this card? This is basically a neutral Oasis Surger that’s available for everyone, under the condition of having a small token on the board to transform into the copy for maximum efficiency. This card is not only going to be meta defining, but gameplay defining. It will over-force trades on turn 5 in order to deny it from connecting and swinging the board back, much like the way trading was so important to deny a 7 mana Bonemare from connecting into a minion during the KFT days.

However, you cannot stop a Faceless Corruptor from connecting after turn 5 if you’re playing against certain decks, which are:

1. Any aggressive deck that runs a low curve of minions.
2. Any token deck that floods the board
3. Any lackey deck, which are the perfect targets for Corruptor.
4. Any hand/deck buff deck, which can grow Faceless Corruptor into a bigger threat.
5. Any Shaman or Paladin deck, because of their hero power. Shaman is getting infinite Shudderwocks back because of this card, by the way.

All these decks should run Faceless Corruptor, and it’s going to dominate the mid-game. Prime nerf candidate.

Score: 4

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Paladin, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior

Kobold Stickyfinger

Solid tech for weapons with impactful deathrattles or effects that you may want to steal. If Kingsbane was around, this would be a crippling counter. In the current climate, Harrison might be a stronger option most of the time.

Score: 2

Platebreaker

Control Warrior’s nightmare, but no other class in standard should lose any sleep over this. Unlikely to provide a good average return, so unlikely to see widespread play.

Score: 2

Classes: Aggro decks. Combo decks with finite burn damage.

Shield of Galakrond

The better invoke neutral. Most classes should be comfortable playing this, as it offers decent protection for a 5-drop.

Score: 3

Classes: EVIL classes.

Skyfin

This card’s a decent pile of stats for a dragon deck and might interest players to delve into a Dragon/Murloc hybrid deck.

Score: 2

Classes: Paladin

Tentacled Menace

This card’s just bad. It requires us to build a very greedy deck in order to take advantage of it and even then, the effect is hardly game winning.

Score: 1

Camouflaged Dirigible

Strong when ahead, terrible when behind. These kinds of cards usually don’t end up performing well. If mech decks survive DoD, they’re unlikely to have a spot for this, but stealth is a spooky mechanic that players often underrate.

Score: 2

Evasive Wyrm

Much like Evasive Feywing, this card is a solid minion for midrange dragon decks. It offers pseudo removal that scales well with buffs.

Score: 2

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Paladin

Gyrocopter

This is an intriguing removal option for mech decks. It’s a Windfury Harpy with rush, which is really strong. Aggressive mech decks might be interesting in topping their curve with this sweeper.

Score: 2

Classes: Hunter, Paladin

Kronx Dragonhoof

One of the strongest cards in the set, and a major factor in evaluating all Galakrond decks. The ability to consistently draw your win condition cannot be overstated, and Kronx’ battlecry after Galakrond has been played is game-winning as well. It is an auto-include in any Galakrond deck, without question or second thoughts.

They may have given you those hero cards for free, but are they truly free when they’re tied to a mandatory craft? Sneaky, sneaky Blizzard.

Score: 4

Classes: EVIL Classes.

Utgrade Grapplesniper

This card can horribly backfire, and the likely average payoff isn’t worth it.

Score: 1

Evasive Drakonid

This evasive dragon’s spot in the meta is a bit more questionable because of its high cost, but the combination of its effect is strong. It’s another card that scales very well with buffs.

Score: 2

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Paladin

Shu’ma

This could be a powerful card in token decks. The high health and persistent effect can be very annoying to deal with. Any class that can quickly punish an unanswered board should be interested in Shu’ma. Savage Roar, Bloodlust and Quest Hunter are the standout synergies that immediately comes to mind.

Score: 2

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Shaman

Twin Tyrant

This card is too slow and situational to be strong. On turn 8, you’re looking to do more than this.

Score: 1

Dragonqueen Alexstrasza

The new Highlander card of Descent of Dragons, Dragonqueen Alexstrasza offers an extremely powerful turn which can often be game-ending if your opponent cannot answer the immediate threats on the board. Alexstrasza can also function as a resource engine alongside duplicate mechanics such as Elise the Enlightened, Dragonbreeder or Barista Lynchen (the latter two are particularly spicy in Mage thanks to Luna’s Pocket Galaxy). Regardless, we fully expect to see Alexstrasza become a mandatory finisher in every Highlander deck, no matter their playstyle. With both Alex and Zephrys now available, more incentives are given to non-Explorer classes to try out Highlander builds. We wonder if any of them stick.

Score: 4

Classes: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Others?

Sathrovarr

This card is very difficult to evaluate. However, with our tremendous foresight, and in our great and unmatched wisdom, we can confidently predict it will be strong in Paladin alongside Shirvallah.

It could also be a strong card in decks that aim to discount giants, with Warlock and Mage being the standout examples.

Score: 2

Classes: Mages, Paladin, Warlock

 

 

 

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