The Comprehensive Echoes of the Infinite Preview

 

Haywire Hornswog

This taunt gets discounted by our overload count, rather than the number of overload cards we have played. So, if we played a card with overload (2), Hornswog will get discounted to 4 mana.

We can envision this taunt getting discounted to 0 mana relatively quickly in a dedicated overload deck, which would represent a powerful effect. A 4/6 taunt with elusive is difficult to deal with and can be useful for both an aggressive and a defensive strategy. The question is whether there is enough support for a dedicated overload Shaman deck in Standard, and we do not believe that is the case, nor is Hornswog enough to push us in that direction. Hagatha Shaman is extremely curve sensitive and is unlikely to benefit from an overload package in its build.

Hornswog does suggest some future support of the mechanic. If it does eventually occur, then Hornswog will likely become one of Overload Shaman’s best cards. Perhaps, this is why it is being set up to rotate earlier.

Score: 3

Shade of the End Time

We do not see a reason to play this minion in a constructed deck, even if our deck does rely on spell damage synergies. Compared to Magical Dollhouse, even the nerfed 2-mana form of the location vastly outclasses Shade in its utility and flexibility. A minion is far worse than a location because it does not offer a banked cost. If we want to compare Shade to a minion, look no further than the original release of Ethereal Oracle. Shade does not come close to Oracle’s power and usefulness at every stage of the game.

And if we are strictly looking at the available options for Shaman and Rogue, why would we play Shade when we can play Thalnos instead? Realistically, we will not be playing a spell damage minion until the turn we need the spell damage for. Setting up Shade a turn before we try to “nuke” the opponent to save mana is a recipe for counterplay in the form of AOE or non-targeted removal. We can just pay 1 mana less and drop Thalnos before we decide to draw our Asteroids/Eruptions or utilize other forms of direct damage.

Unless we want to play both Shade and Thalnos, we do not see it.

Score: 1

Winged Aberration

The activated form of this minion is strong. A 4-mana 4/4 with Windfury and immunity means it can either kill a giant, or two reasonably sized minions, while leaving a threat that the opponent must remove. Aberration represents a decent swing turn.

However, Aberration’s overload and combo condition make it a harder sell, as it is highly disruptive to a deck’s curve, Aberration is difficult to play off-curve, yet playing it on turn 4 requires us to use a 0-mana card. Static Shock is the only activator for Shaman here, while Rogue needs a coin, Backstab or a Preparation setup.

We believe it is easier to overload in a passive deck, or alternatively, when it is easier for us to unlock those mana crystals back. Aberration clearly belongs in a proactive deck, yet seems hard to fit into either class, both of which highly value Elise at the 4-mana slot. We think they pass.

Score: 1

Eventuality

A very simple Imbue card with a basic effect. 2 damage for 2 mana is not great, so the question is whether Rogue will value a big package of Imbue cards, or whether it will be content with a few. We believe it will be the latter, so Rogue may only play 4 Imbue cards in total. In this case, it is possible that Rogue opts for Jagged Edge of Time and Bitterbloom Knight over Eventuality.

The weapon is a stronger board control tool while Bitterbloom Knight is a stronger turn 2 play that can also work with Shadowstep. Therefore, we think Eventuality possibly slips through the cracks and only sees play if Rogue’s Imbued hero power proves to be a more powerful form of mana-cheating than we expect it to be.

Score: 2

Prescient Slitherdrake

It was hard for us to believe this minion was real at first, as the condition is incredibly easy to meet for any deck with a dragon package. Slitherdrake is a bonafide 4-mana 6/9 with elusive. No drawback. No catch. If we have any other dragon in hand, this is what it is. A thoroughly overwhelming threat that sounds like a nightmare to remove.

It is not difficult to figure out where this card goes either. Dragon Warrior now has the option to play Slitherdrake on turn 4 and Windpeak Wyrm on turn 5, which sounds absolutely disgusting. Shred Warlock should also appreciate another bloated threat to add to its plethora of large dragons. Perhaps even Zarimi Priest makes a comeback thanks to this card.

For a long time, Hearthstone has not been a card game focused on stats on curve. Mid-game minions that only offer stats and no immediate impact on the board are usually frowned upon and fail to find their way to competitive decks. However, there comes a point when the stats are so overwhelming and difficult to deal with that a minion of this type can become meta defining. We think this will be the case.

Prescient Slitherdrake represents “stats on curve” being pushed to an extreme that we have not seen for a long time. You are probably thrilled to also hear that its best counter… is probably Blob of Tar.

Score: 4

Omen of the End

The return of Tickatus? Omen of the End is a non-legendary version of the controversial Warlock card, one that activates when our deck is empty. So, our goal will be to draw our deck as quickly as possible and then destroy our opponent’s deck with this dragon’s battlecry. This can be complemented by a secondary win condition that shuffles value into our deck to delay our own fatigue.

We can think of one class that can draw its deck very quickly, as well as bounce this minion to replay it. However, we are not sure Rogue needs this kind of win condition in its cycling shell. Alternatively, if Priest ever figures out a way to utilize Fragment of Nothing, it now has an incentive to build a cycling shell.

Theoretically, any class can build a fast-drawing shell in the future and use Omen of the End with a “Kil’jaeden” type of card. This is a difficult to execute win condition that needs to be supported by a specific shell, but Omen of the End sounds intimidating in slower matchups if it ever pans out.

Score: 2

Crumblecrusher

This card looks terrible and slow. It is unlikely that Crumblecrusher finds a situation where it can get value from all its destruction effects. How often does the opponent have a minion and location on board, on top of a weapon equipped? Baking this into an 8-mana 8/6 does not seem worthwhile. Considering how bad Demolition Renovator performs in an Elise-dominated format, Crumblecrusher cannot be a good card.

There is one situation that possibly allows this minion to sneak into a constructed deck, ironically thanks to Elise. A deck with an 8-mana slot to fill that cannot use Shaladrassil well may throw this in and call it a day.

Score: 1

Morchie

Rewind cards are generally not good, especially when our deck does not have any synergy with them. A 4-mana 2/5 that discovers one of them sounds horribly slow. There is the possibility to double the Rewind effect of the card we discover, but we are talking about a relatively late stage of the game when we should make game-winning plays, rather than whatever this is. Doubling a Rewind effect hardly makes up for spending 4 mana on a 2/5.

The other way to view Morchie is as an enabler for the Rewind cards we intentionally put in our deck. However, we do not see an obvious power play that this legendary minion enables. Will Rogue look to play Morchie with Chrono Daggers to burst an opponent down? Is it enough for Morchie to double our Rogue Imbue hero power and perhaps one more Rewind card?

Probably not. This looks like a classic neutral legendary filler that does not see the light of day.

Score: 1

Endtime Murozond

Possibly the most thought-provoking card in the set, Murozond’s battlecry combines an extremely powerful effect with the worst drawback we have ever seen on a card.

An unconditional Reno heal on top of summoning a full board of dragons, which are high-quality minions, is undoubtedly a game-winning effect on paper. We cannot view this card as strictly a 9-mana 4/6. It summons a huge board that is worth a ton of stats that will kill the opponent if not dealt with.

However, the drawback provides the opponent with arguably the most powerful effect in the game: Time Warp. It is not unreasonable to assume that most late-game strategies, when given this effect, will come out on top even when faced with our full board of dragons. Even attrition decks can outright kill us with this extra turn.

This drawback just sounds horrible in control matchups, especially when we play Murozond in the late game, while the upside in faster matchups is not that high. If we make it to 9 mana, we are likely in a winning position against them anyway.

We believe the only way Murozond can possibly work is if we cheat it out early, not allowing our opponent to have two full turns on 10 mana to respond to our board and/or potentially kill us. In this case, we beat both aggressive and defensive decks by scamming them.

Ideas such as Krona Druid, Aviana Priest or Divergence Warlock come to mind as potential shells for Murozond, but all these shells have one thing in common: they are terribly inconsistent by nature.

Murozond has all the traits of a gimmick card, so we suspect that is what it will prove to be. If it does prove to be competitive, it is unlikely to represent a compelling game experience anyway.

Score: 1