The Comprehensive Scholomance Academy Preview

 

Athletic Studies

This card is just bad. We don’t have rush minions that we’re desperate to play a turn earlier, and the pool of rush minions to discover from certainly isn’t promising. This feels like a filler card without a purpose, unlike most of the other ‘Studies’ cards that carry some clear synergies.

Score: 1

Shield of Honor

Enrage Warrior gets a cheaper version of Rampage, which has massive implications. Kor’kron Elite burst combos are now cheaper. An early Warmaul Challenger becomes more dangerous. Bloodsworn Mercenary can now build a very sticky board. This is a perfect addition to the archetype, one that players will feel, and opponents will rue. It’s very cut and dried.

Score: 4

In Formation!

Occasionally, we get a card that generates random garbage that we’re somehow supposed to play in a constructed deck. We suspect that both ‘In Formation!’ and ‘Athletic Studies’ are meant to support a Big Warrior deck, but we’re not impressed.

Score: 1

Cutting Class

Warrior isn’t desperate for card draw, and we would need to carry a sizeable weapon for the discount to be worth it. A Wrenchcalibur barely does the job. We think this card would have had a better chance of seeing play if Corsair Cache weren’t nerfed. If a Control Warrior deck running Reaper’s Scythe ever emerges, it could make use of this card.

Score: 2

Coerce

An Execute that can turn into non-conditional removal with an activation. Might be played in more defensive Warrior decks, but unlikely to be featured in the most recent Warrior archetypes we’ve seen flourish during Ashes of Outland

Score: 2

Reaper’s Scythe

This is a very powerful weapon that might seem overshadowed by the established weapons of Warrior’s current elite decks, but we cannot ignore the sheer power level of this card and its potential in a different archetype. Scourgelord Garrosh was an 8 mana Death Knight. This is a worse weapon (has one activation for a cleave), but it costs just 4 mana. It could be a matter of time until a Warrior deck emerges with this weapon of choice, even if it takes another expansion to do so. The effect is too promising to be ignored for long.

Score: 3

Commencement

This could be the card that makes Big Warrior viable, but much like other archetypes that are being supported in this set, it could end up failing to make the grade. It’s a strong effect considering that it turns every minion we summon into a good defensive body. Warrior has better targets for it than Paladin, so we’ll be a bit more optimistic here.

Score: 2

Troublemaker

This card reminds us of Priestess of Fury. Troublemaker dishes out damage at the end of its turn, but in the form of randomly attacking minions rather than missiles. These Ruffians stick around on the board if they survive, so Troublemaker generates even more board tension than a Priestess of Fury. It’s a turn slower, so that matters a lot, but it’s harder to kill than a pre-nerf Priestess. We can see Troublemaker being played in a variety of Warrior decks. Although it could end up being too expensive for Enrage Warrior, it’s worth experimenting in every deck. Just an all-round powerful win condition that we think is slept on by many players.

Score: 4

Ceremonial Maul

This weapon is not good enough compared to the various excellent weapons that are available to the class. Not only is Ceremonial Maul underwhelming, Warrior doesn’t really have a great way to follow it up on turn 4 with a strong enough spell. The card lacks both power and synergy.

Score: 1

Playmaker

This is an awfully narrow effect for an undersized 3-drop. If we’re expecting to play this on turn 3, see it survive and then play Restless Mummy, we’re being very optimistic. This combo on turn 7 doesn’t seem worthwhile to invest into either considering how weak Playmaker is outside of this context. We’re not buying.

Score: 1

Steeldancer

This is another card that ended up being a victim of the nerf to Corsair Cache. We would have been more interested in the Cache/Lance/Steeldancer curve if Lance had 3 attack. With 2 attack, Steeldancer doesn’t look as strong of an investment. This card does work well with Imprisoned Gan’arg and ‘Upgrade!’, so it could be playable in a more aggressive Warrior deck.

Score: 2

Lord Barov

This card is dangerously powerful in Warrior. We’re genuinely shocked this thing has been allowed to exist while Risky Skipper is proving to be one of the most dominant and meta defining cards in the format. Lord Barov solves one weakness that Warrior had, which is dealing with a big board of tall minions. The deck now has access to a stronger version of the Pyromancer/Equality combo before it was nerfed.

Lord Barov will be played in every Warrior deck that runs Risky Skipper, no questions asked, other than “why is this a thing?”.

Score: 4

Doctor Krastinov

Krastinov could be a strong card in Pirate Warrior or Bomb Warrior as it’s very comparable to Captain Greenskin at the 5-mana slot, following up on a Wrenchcalibur. If there is an opponent minion to run into, it’s far better than Greenskin due to its immediate impact on the board. We do run the risk, however, of facing an empty board in which Krastinov is ineffective, so we’re not too sure about him.

Score: 2

Rattlegore

The best chance for this legendary to see play is if Big Warrior running Commencement and Dimensional Ripper takes off. In that deck, Rattlegore is a pretty insane threat that’s impossible to take off the board without a silence or a transform effect. Since we’re relying on Big Warrior to become meta for it to see play, we can’t give this a higher score than 2.

Score: 2

 

 

Final Thoughts

Scholomance Set Rank: 5^th

Overall Power Ranking: 1^st

Warrior’s time in Ashes of Outland could be considered a golden age for the class. It was the only class that could bring Demon Hunter to its knees consistently. Even after Demon Hunter got enough nerfs to knock it down and bring Highlander Hunter to the top of the meta, Warrior remained an elite class.

Warrior didn’t get the best set, or the most well-rounded set. Many of its cards support a Big Warrior archetype that could well remain a meme (we like it after building the list, which explains our odd ratings of Commencement and Rattlegore).

But the good cards Warrior did get are blockbusters. Not only are they blockbusters, they perfectly fit the already dominant archetypes at the class’ disposal. Shield of Honor makes Enrage Warrior’s combo and early game blowout potential even scarier. Troublemaker provides a top-end threat to Bomb Warrior, a deck that is currently running Galakrond/Kronx without any invokes just to increase its late game power. Lord Barov is completely absurd considering the synergies that are already available to the class. For 4 mana, Warrior can completely negate the most busted plays that any other class can make.

Indeed, ranking Warrior as the best class in the game heading into the first day of Scholomance Academy is a reasonable call. Some may call it the safe, cowardly call. We’ll just call it the correct call.

Good luck queuing Voracious Reader decks into Garrosh.

Heh. Greetings.