The Comprehensive Fractured in Alterac Valley Preview

 

Vitality Surge

A tutor spell that seems to be geared to a Big Paladin deck that runs high-cost minions, but we think Vitality Surge is strong enough to see play in other Paladin decks too. Remember Flash of Light? That card was very powerful by healing us for 4 and drawing a card for 2 mana, so if the average outcome in a deck for Surge is around that mark, we think it will be a strong consideration.

Score: 3

Hold the Bridge

This can be a powerful stabilizer for a deck that runs big minions, but much like Vitality Surge, it’s efficient enough to see play in other decks as well. Though it is worse than Apotheosis, a Lifesteal buff can always sneak up somewhere. Mostly a Big Paladin card because of its synergy with the newly introduced 8-drops.

Score: 2

Cavalry Horn

This is a powerful mana cheating effect for Big Paladin. The best part about it is that it helps us defend the board and still guarantees a summoning on turn 6. The big difference between Cavalry Horn and Sigil of Reckoning is that it isn’t as flexible. You’re forced to build your deck in the ‘big’ route and can’t afford to just sprinkle it in. We like it for the archetype though.

Score: 3

Dun Baldar Bridge

We’re getting strong sleeper vibes from this card. On the surface, spending 4 mana to do nothing for a turn looks bad, but then you realize that Bridge is basically a more tempered version of the Caverns Below. The potential follow-up to this card could be devastating with some cute deckbuilding maneuvers, and IF it works, Bridge could birth a wildly different archetype from what you’re used to in the Paladin class. We think there are obvious flaws in such a deck as it’s highly dependent on drawing Bridge, and then Paladin may not have the card draw to support it either, but it’s very scary.

Score: 3

Protect the Innocent

Truesilver Champion or Lightbringer’s Hammer can activate this on-curve, which makes Protector the Innocent nutty, but this card reminds us of Mor’shan Elite in its situational activation and we’re still traumatized from being baited by that one. So, we think this is a reasonable choice in Big Paladin to develop a board and defend itself before it gets to cheat out stuff, but not more than that.

Score: 2

Templar Captain

Big Paladin sure is getting a lot of stuff. This is a classic minion you never want to spend the full mana on but seems strong to summon on turn 6 off Cavalry Horn or turn 7 off Commencement. The ability is persistent, so the opponent must kill the Templar or risk another Defender being summoned, and the Defenders make it more difficult to remove the Templar while protecting you as well. Can certainly snowball some games out of control, but we wouldn’t touch it in another deck.

Score: 2

Stonehearth Vindicator

There are so many cheap Paladin spells that are extremely powerful in combination with Vindicator that we think it’s the kind of glue card that can hold multiple decks together in a similar vein to Knight of Anointment. You don’t even lose initiative by playing it on curve because often the spell you draw helps you gain back mana you lost by playing a 3 mana 3/1. For example, this is extremely powerful with Noble Mount. It’s great with Hand of A’dal. It can fish for your Libram of Wisdom. There is just so much utility here that it’s very likely to find its way into almost any Paladin deck.

Score: 4

Brasswing

This 8-drop could be stronger than Templar Captain to the point it might see uses outside of the dedicated Big Paladin archetype. Brasswing is a cracked Primordial Drake that can persistently clear the board and lock out board strategies while also stabilizing your health total. Cheating it out with Cavalry seems very enticing and it forms intriguing combos with Equality, Hold the Bridge and Gift of Luminance.

Score: 3

Saidan the Scarlet

This legendary just works great with both on- and off-board buffs, and that’s something different kinds of Paladin decks tend to do. Saidan isn’t really a build-around card but it’s a very nice complementary one to decks like Handbuff or Libram Paladin. It’s also another rush minion you don’t mind drawing off Varian, so we can see it find a spot in these decks and give them another comeback piece.

Score: 3

Lightforged Cariel

This hero card is more about the weapon than anything else. Immovable Object is insane and makes Paladin so difficult to kill. Any aggressive deck can be absolutely crippled by the oppressive damage mitigation it offers, but it’s just as good against damage-based combos. Cariel can destroy a strategy such as Garrote Rogue, by basically forcing OTK decks to deal 70 damage in one hit to win the game. Sure, weapon tech exists, but if we’ve reached a point in the meta where we must play Viper then it means Cariel is already dominating the format. A tech card has never stopped a strong card from seeing play.

The other effects of the card almost don’t matter, but we can’t forget about the Consecration as well as being the only hero card that gives you 10 effective armor rather than 5 thanks to the mitigation. The hero power is deck dependent. In something like Handbuff Paladin, it is absolutely nuts, but it might be a little awkward in Libram Paladin since it does run out of minions eventually and it sometimes need silver hand recruits to put Libram of Wisdoms on.

Nevertheless, Immovable Object is just too good and will make Cariel an auto-include for every kind of Paladin deck. Have we mentioned that every healing card’s effectiveness is essentially doubled post-Cariel? Yeah.

Score: 4

Final Thoughts

Fractured in Alterac Valley Set Rank: 2^nd

Overall Power Ranking: 4^th

The Paladin set seems very strong. There are plenty of good cards here that can fit different types of strategies, both established and new.

Big Paladin seems to be a big focus of this set, and we like what it’s getting. The 8-drop are very nice and Calavry Horn is the most important tool to cheat them out and swing the game back. We do see the potential of blowing out aggressive decks on turn 6, but the one concern is that we’re not sure of this deck’s ability to win late game matchups. There’s not the same kind of lethality and relentless pressure that we can identify in Big DH or even Big Warrior.

Lightforged Cariel is game changing. This is the kind of card that can warp a meta. There’s some chance that it will not be as dominant as we expect, but it will require a very specific and very grindy meta. If there are any kind of burn-based strategies, aggressive strategies, OTK strategies… then Cariel just seems nuts.

The deck that can use her best is Handbuff Paladin, obviously because of the hero power, which might be the ‘weakest’ part of her kit but synergizes perfectly with the deck. Saidan is a nice addition but watch out for the neutral Irondeep Trogg. This is the perfect scaling 1-drop threat for the deck and can just solo spell-centric strategies.

Libram Paladin also seems to be getting a consistency boost. Stonehearth Vindicator is going to see play in multiple Paladin decks and is a great fit for Libram Paladin as well. Cariel might push Libram Paladin in a more proactive direction, just because Libram of Justice will have to make way, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Irondeep Trogg should do quite a bit of work in this deck as well.

And then there’s a wild card, like Dun Balder Bridge. We’re interested in seeing what happens there.

The one thing that makes us less sure about the normal Paladin expansion cycle repeating itself (getting some nerf within a week or two) is the introduction of very powerful cards that happen to counter everything that Paladin wants to do. Scabbs and Windchill are the first things that come to mind. So, while it does seem strong and fleshed out, Paladin tends to get exposed eventually because its strategies are more predictable, though the critical mass of synergies could well be too much to handle.

Overall, it’s another well designed and flavorful Paladin set.