The Comprehensive Reign of the Black Empire Preview

Grafted Knight

What is a simple and plain minion, is going to be an influential early-game tool for the class. There comes a point where the stats for cost are just too good. Grafted Knight represents a strong, stabilizing board presence for the cost.

A 3/3 with lifesteal on turn 2 forces every aggressive deck to trade into the body. There is no point trying to hit face while leaving Grafted Knight alone. Opponents must remove it from play, or the Death Knight will simply soak the pressure.

There have been such bloated minions for control decks across the game’s history and they usually see play. What is important to note is that the double Blood rune requirement, in the context of this set, is not something that the class will have to make significant sacrifices for, as the set encourages Death Knight to go triple Blood.

Fetid Devourer and G’huun make this card useful even at the later stages of the game, against decks that are not necessarily aggressive since it provides a double Blood rune activation for just two mana. This should be a core card for Blood-Ctrl Death Knight.

Score: 3

Malicious Presence

A 2-mana destroy a minion effect is good. 3 mana is when the effect is borderline playable, but once it gets cheaper than that, it becomes a strong consideration.

The issue with Malicious Presence is the rune requirement. Defensive Death Knight decks that are interested in single-target removal are not going to pass up on what triple Blood runes offer to them. This makes the spell feel a bit homeless, especially when Blood/Frost is an awkward pairing with the current card pool, compared to Blood/Unholy, which is a bit more palatable.

So, this is a decent card that is unlikely to see play until there is a good reason to tap into a Frost rune in a Blood-Ctrl Death Knight, or there is a reason to play Rainbow Death Knight. We do not see it happening anytime soon.

Score: 1

The Cold Dark Void

Cleave spells that cannot hit face usually do not see play. This is because they are not versatile and their area of effectiveness is often determined by the opponent’s ability to play around them. Put the small minion in the middle of the board and this spell becomes far less effective.

This is a worse card than Swipe. We find it hard to believe that it will be remotely good enough for a Frost Death Knight, considering the importance of the archetype possessing versatile damage sources that can both function as removal and burn. There is no chance a defensive Death Knight will ever consider it either.

Score: 1

Scion of Insight

A 2/2 with a keyword that discovers a card would be a strong early-game minion for most classes. This is an ideal 2-drop for a resource-focused deck that wants to contest early board while gaining card advantage.

The other bonus of Scion is that we get to control what keyword we receive based on our discovery choice. It is possible that we will want rush, but the Unholy rune card offered ends up being weak. However, none of the available keywords are particularly bad choices in faster matchups.

The lack of rune requirement also makes Scion very versatile. We can see distinctive styles of decks utilizing it. It is never going to be one of the best cards in a deck, but it should be useful filler for any Death Knight looking for a serviceable turn 2 play. We will be surprised if it does not find its way to at least one competitive deck.

Score: 3

Fleshshape

Fleshshape is more of a handbuff card than it is a value card. Discovering a minion for 3 mana is not acceptable, but the 2/2 buff to minions in hand is strong for the cost, provided we leverage it properly in a minion-dense deck. Note that the minion we assemble also gets buffed.

Can Handbuff Death Knight become competitive thanks to this spell? Fleshshape is a significant boost to this potential archetype, as it is unconditional and we can play it as early as turn 3. When we compare it to Blood Tap, which costs 2 mana but is difficult to activate early, Fleshshape is clearly better. The earlier we can play a handbuff card, the more likely we can overwhelm opponents with stats in play before their removal comes online. Fleshshape on 3 directly leads to Nerubian Swarmguard on 4.

This should become the best mulligan target for the deck, but since the archetype is far from a competitive power level, it may not be enough.

Score: 2

Xel’noth Behemoth

Behemoth’s deathrattle is powerful for a board-flooding deck in theory, as it provides a permanent Bloodlust on minions in play. In addition, it summons two bodies that soak this buff, which makes it a bit more tolerable as a standalone card.

We are not comfortable playing Behemoth in a deck that does not flood the board. By itself, it is just a sticky and slow minion.

But how does a board-flooding deck properly leverage Behemoth when its main selling point is a deathrattle that is extremely difficult to immediately activate due to the minion’s prohibitive cost? It requires us to set up Behemoth with Defias Smuggler or Soulrest Ceremony (which kills our board), then run Behemoth into an opposing minion to kill it.

Is it not simply better to play Grave Strength, with a condition trivial to activate in such a deck and is not dependent on the opponent’s board state?

Score: 1

Uldir Quarantine

A 3-mana location that summons three random 5-drops represents high value for its cost, but Uldir Quarantine possesses brutal limitations that temper any enthusiasm about its potential ceiling.

First, this location requires a Rainbow Death Knight home, which we do not believe is strong enough to incentivize players with the current card pool. By itself, Uldir Quarantine is hardly a game winning payoff to promote such a deck.

Second, the lock on the location means it is difficult to summon the first random 5-drop on turn 4, as we need to spend mana on multiple cards to unlock it. A random 5-drop on turn 5 is not a game winning proposition, which means Uldir Quarantine requires a prolonged game where we use all its charges. We are now looking at the late stages of an average Hearthstone game for full effectiveness even if we drop Quarantine on curve.

We have underestimated high value locations in the past, but the key difference is that those locations proved to be faster than we anticipated. Coin Quarantine on turn 2 into a turn 3 Quarantine would be the fastest we can pressure an opponent, but we do not think this happens often enough to make the deckbuilding sacrifice worthwhile.

Score: 1

Bloodfiend

This is an overwhelmingly powerful card. A 4-mana 4/4 that deals 4 damage to all other minions is a dominant board clear, one that can completely obliterate early aggression and turn the corner in our favor in dramatic fashion. The corpse requirement to drop a fully loaded Bloodfiend on curve is not trivial. It requires the Death Knight to be active in its board development early, but even if it deals 3 damage rather than 4, Bloodfiend should clear most early-game threats in the format. It is not an all or nothing card.

The potential 4-damage clear becomes much easier to trigger in later turns, making Bloodfiend a strong AOE at all stages of the game. This is a modern day Duskbreaker. The strongest incentive to choose triple Blood runes in every defensive-minded Death Knight deck going forward.

Score: 4

Fetid Devourer

This legendary minion transforms in hand according to the last card with Death Knight runes we played while it was in hand. Its bonus effects do not stack. If we play a double Blood rune card and then a single Blood rune card, Fetid Devourer will have the effect of one Blood rune.

When evaluating its effects combined with its threatening body, we would say that Fetid Devourer is useful even at single runes but becomes a powerful play whenever it follows a double rune card. These effects guarantee a board state swing when utilizing Blood and Unholy runes. Destroying multiple minions of our choice, or building a massive board, are strong Hearthstone turns in all kinds of decks. The only issue is that Devourer is expensive and likely requires a setup turn, which makes it a bit worse as a responsive tool.

Decks that are rune barren may not take advantage of Devourer often enough, but we think it may incentivize the usage of cards with a higher rune count. What is a restriction in deck building becomes a small upside with Devourer around. As an example, Grafted Knight is a better card in our eyes because of Devourer.

Score: 3

G’huun

The second triple Blood payoff, G’huun is a versatile minion that we can utilize as a board clear, a threat, or a game-ending nuke, depending on the context.

At its baseline, G’huun deals 6 damage that (usually) targets enemy minions first due to its preference for lower-health targets. We upgrade the damage total by playing Blood runes. It is important to understand that it counts runes, not cards with runes. This means that a triple Blood rune card will upgrade G’huun’s damage by 3. It does not need to be in hand to upgrade either.

A Blood Death Knight deck can feasibly run a high Blood rune count, which can easily upgrade G’huun to steal over 20 health. The larger the number, the more dependable its board-clearing capabilities become, but at the same time, its lethality comes into play. Without minions to drain, G’huun will target the opponent hero.

Death Knight can take advantage of this by combining G’huun with M.O.T.H.E.R. and Chrono-Lord Deios for an OTK. Discount G’huun and Deios with Mother to play them on the same turn, and a 25-damage G’huun becomes a 50-damage nuke, one that can OTK opponents even when they have a robust board in play and ignores armor.

We are discussing a defensive shell that possesses excellent removal and board-clearing capabilities, gaining a lethal combo finisher that is extremely difficult to outlast. The only drawbacks are that it can take a bit of time to juice up and requires a Mother setup turn.

Even if the OTK combo does not pan out, G’huun should be a powerful swing card for Blood-Ctrl Death Knight.

Score: 4

Final Thoughts

Black Empire Set Rank: 7th

Overall Power Ranking: 8th

A triple-Blood rune Death Knight is on the menu for this expansion. The question is whether the archetype will manage to establish an effective win condition that can compete with other late-game strategies.

Herald Death Knight has proven to be too weak during Violet Hold, as its finisher is more about survivability. It can produce a lot of stats in play, but that leaves it vulnerable to other decks with strong removal toolkits, or decks that can execute their powerful game plans earlier.

With this set, Death Knight can experiment with new win conditions. Its solid defensive structure, further backed up by a card like Bloodfiend, allows it to prolong the game effectively. That is an ideal testing ground for the Old Gods, as they require some time to ramp up or activate. N’Zoth, Yogg and Y’Shaarj are all feasible options for a Blood-Ctrl Death Knight.

But G’huun offers another path, which is an OTK alongside Deios. A lethal win condition of this level was simply not possible for slow Death Knight decks until now, so we are intrigued whether the class can make it work. We do get a sense that Death Knight does not have many other promising avenues with this set.

If Death Knight manages to improve its game-closing capabilities, it will have a much better chance of competing on an even footing with late-game powerhouses. Otherwise, it will struggle the same way it did during Violet Hold.