The Comprehensive Fractured in Alterac Valley Preview

Windchill

This spell costs 1 mana, Hat! For 1 mana, we get to freeze a minion AND draw a card? We get to stall the opponent without losing card advantage? There have been some powerful freeze effects in the past, but this could trump them all. We don’t think there is a single Shaman deck that looks at Windchill and says “Nah, no thanks”. Moorabi nods in approval.

Score: 4

Frostbite

This card is pretty good at its baseline. A 3-damage spell for 2 mana is equivalent to Darkbomb. We don’t mind having that at all, since it’s flexible enough to go face. The Honorable Kill ability is what makes Frostbite absurd. It’s important to remember that once you connect a kill, there is no way for the opponent to avoid it. They must take the 2-mana penalty at some point. This could be game winning at all stages of the game. A considerably stronger effect than Cult Neophyte. It’s so strong that there will be moments you will hit your own minion with it. Guaranteed.

Score: 4

Snowfall Guardian

Frost Nova attached to a body, which scales according to the number of minions that get frozen. This 5-drop offers strong stats for the effect even at its baseline, so freezing two minions just seems crazy good. A 5/5 that casts Frost Nova for 5 mana? The only downside is that the Frost Nova effect is symmetric, hitting your minions as well. That makes it unlikely to be good in a proactive Elemental Shaman deck, but this is very good in a defensive shell.

Score: 3

Sleetbreaker

A 2 mana 3/2 that adds a broken card to your hand. It’s an Elemental with a battlecry, so it already carries a couple of synergies that are very relevant for the class. Even if it were neither of those, Windchills are just so good. We take those, without question, in any kind of deck. An insanely good 2-drop.

Score: 4

Wildpaw Cavern

Persistently summoning freezing minions seems like a very annoying prospect for the opponent. On the first turn, we’re summoning a Water Elemental with 2 less health. That’s obviously weak, but it is still something that needs to be dealt with. And then the following two summons more than make up for the loss of the initial investment, especially if you have reasonable follow-up. Wildpaw Cavern is a nightmare for any kind of weapon-centric deck, as it is so difficult to constantly clear. It produces a lot of pressure on the opponent. Whether you’re playing proactively or defensively, this card will become a strong consideration if not an auto-include. Seems very oppressive with Lightning Bloom too. Illidan is shaking. Literally.

Score: 4

Glaciate

We’ve looked at the available 8-mana minions you can discover, and it isn’t quite good enough. This card is just a bit too slow. Even if you get a rush minion from it and you get to attack on turn 7, you saved 1 mana on playing a normally unplayable 8-drop. Freeze Shaman received such an insanely good kit that there’s no space for this luxury, if you can even call it that.

Score: 1

Cheaty Snobold

A 3-drop with vanilla stats and potentially sleeper utility. This card is obviously good with Windchill, but it’s also extremely powerful with Snowfall Guardian, Wildpaw Caverns and Bearon Gla’shear. If this is on the board, any minion with the freezing ability will deal 3 extra damage when it goes face! This makes Snobold very useful at all stages of the game. Serviceable threat on-curve, very strong in the mid-game, and potentially a game-ending finisher in the late game. Freeze Shaman finds its win condition?

Score: 3

Snowball Fight!

This spell is a bit hard to evaluate because of how unique the effect is, but our impression is that is can be situational in its usage. It’s a Bouncing Blade that freezes, and yet it doesn’t work on a single big threat. It’s also a risky play when the board is wide with small minions and seems mostly ideal for bigger boards where it can often act as a damage dealing Frost Nova. Since it can hit your own minions, you don’t play this in an aggressive deck, but it seems reasonable enough in a defensive shell. You’re highly encouraged to run every decent frost spell you can find in this set.

Score: 2

Bearon Gla’shear

This is a frozen hell of a finisher. If you were somehow unsure whether Windchills are truly as insane as we think they are, here’s a nutty payoff card for running them. Bearon can just end games on the spot once it’s juiced up enough, and the powerful drawing capabilities that Freeze Shaman is getting should make it consistent. It’s an Elemental, so you can discount it further in a dedicated Elemental deck where it can act as the final threat. It can be the final finisher in a defensive shell that can abuse it further with Brilliant Macaws, making it a similar win condition to Chef Nomi with Shadowsteps, but noticeably quicker and easier to drop down. This is just a well-designed payoff card; the way Team 5 want ‘control decks’ to win in the present and the future.

Score: 4

Bru’kan of the Elements

Bru’kan is a very stable hero card in its effectiveness. Unlike others we’ve discussed, such as Xyrella and Varden, Bru’kan does not scale to become stronger, but the card is a very reliable power spike whenever it’s drawn. You get two out of four pretty good effects to activate immediately, and then a rotating hero power similarly to Dr. Boom, Mad Genius.

We think Bru’kan is clearly a good card, though perhaps not as flashy as others. It doesn’t win games by itself but acts as a complementary piece for whatever win condition you’re aiming for. It gives you a decent amount of healing, damage, removal, and board development. It’s well-rounded and will probably find its way to different kinds of Shaman decks. Even the more aggressive ones will likely experiment with it at the top of their curve, though it should be stronger in the more defensive shells since longer games mean more button clicking.

Score: 3

Final Thoughts

Fractured in Alterac Valley Set Rank: 1^st

Overall Power Ranking: 3^rd

The Shaman set is just busted, from top to bottom. It reminds us of the Warlock set from Kobolds & Catacombs. From a forgotten meme back in Knights of the Frozen Throne, Freeze Shaman could suddenly become a legitimate meta contender. We will note that this is a deck that’s emerging from nothing, and had the entire set dedicated to it. But maybe that’s an indication that Team 5 just sat down and decided that we must play this deck.

Windchill just changes the whole landscape of Shaman. Our thirst to put Primal Dungeoneer in every Shaman has been completely quenched and now Windchill and Sleetbreaker are going to be everywhere instead. Frostbite is downright ridiculous. Wildpaw Caverns might be the best objective card in the set.

The deck also seems to pass the lethality test. Bearon is a Chef Nomi type of finisher with Brilliant Macaws. Cheaty Snobold provides survivability and burst, and the deck can even gain tons of armor if it wants to through the neutral Snowblind Harpy. Bru’kan is an excellent piece just to round out everything together.

And then if you want to play Elemental Shaman with the frost package, you can. You will have stronger card draw and the kind of late game bomb you’ve never had before. You could sprinkle some of the frost package into Quest Shaman and enjoy even better Multicasters, making sure that you’re basically never running out of cards.

It just seems very rosy in theory, but of course, putting all eggs in this set’s basket is no guarantee for success. We could have a light minion meta where Windchills aren’t as potent, for example, or where the board-centric pressure of the Shaman doesn’t translate as well as it could because of strong board clears.

So, Shaman got tons of power from the set. The class was going a bit stale towards the end of Stormwind, so Alterac Valley could provide that refreshing, cool breeze it needed.