The Comprehensive Fall of Ulduar Preview

Sigil of Time

Drawing 3 cards for 3 mana is strong. The caveat is that the draw is delayed by a turn, which can be a bigger deal later in the game. Sigil of Time has synergy with the “draw” package in the TITANS set, especially Crystalline Statue and Momentum.

Does Demon Hunter need more draw effects? It depends on the archetype in question. Relic and Outcast DH have no need for Sigil of Time, as they’re already well equipped with draw; but other archetypes will likely be interested. Big and Spell DH for example, which are not currently visible, would be very interested in this card.

This card may not immediately see play, but it’s very likely to find its way to the meta at some point in the future, as it’s a powerful draw effect for any emerging deck that’s not centered on Relics or Glaivetar.

Score: 3

Mindbender

At its baseline, Mindbender is a 4 mana 4/4 that deals 1 damage, since you’re guaranteed to draw 1 card per turn, but combine it with other draw effects and you could ramp its damage further. The obvious synergy is with Sigil of Time, as it’s an on-curve set-up to deal 4 damage.

But how strong is a Mindbender that deals 4 damage? It’s certainly nothing to scoff at, but this might be its best-case scenario in the current format. With Final Showdown and Glide, this card could turn into a big nuke, but such mechanics that could ramp up its damage to game ending levels aren’t abundantly available in Standard. The best shout is Glaivetar, but it seems like an awkward card to run in Outcast DH. It’s interesting enough as a build around card to receive some respect, but it may require the emergence of an entirely new archetype.

Score: 2

Saronite Shambler

A 2 mana 2/3 that gives your hero 4 damage sounds quite powerful, but Shambler is a River Crocolisk at its baseline and the requirement seems quite steep. Playing 5 spells in a game likely pushes its activation to around turn 5 at the earliest, even in a spell heavy deck. This means that Shambler has no early game impact and needs to be viewed as a finisher type of card.

The deck that plays Shambler needs to be unique and different from current Demon Hunter archetypes. It needs to be quite heavy on spells, but it can’t be Spell DH. Shambler and a package of minions needs to be strong enough to replace the established Spell DH payoffs of Fel’dorei Warband and Mark of Scorn. We can see Shambler and Mindbender offering a lot of damage to this archetype, but it does seem a bit limited against the high amount of life gain in the format.

Score: 2

Final Thoughts: Take Spell DH. Remove Souleater’s Scythe. Add the minion payoffs in this mini-set, as well as Yogg-Saron, for a new, burn-focused deck. Relic and Outcast DH will stay the same.

1 Comment

  1. On the Mindbender on a outcast DH with a glaivetar can do a lot of dmg and inst to hard to buff the glaivetar and set up a turn lethal since sigil draw 4 cards.
    On Mage, im using Tainted and Meddlesome(since few draw spells) on elemental mage and yap is agro.
    On Rogue i just played on Tendrils since looks like the most fun and random noosenses.
    On Warlock Encroaching Insanity was great on fatigue imp ,really fun doing 7-8 dmg with crescendo,the only problem is if you dont win at turn 7-8 you will die because the amount of self fatigue you did to yourself and Harp cant save you.
    And yap Yogg is good for remove and more random tendrils

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