In this article, we will review the new cards, evaluate the strength of each class set and rank the sets against each other. We will also be ranking the classes, which is very difficult to do but it’s fun. We’re very good at evaluating cards once we see them being played live, but without data, the process becomes educated guessing. Much like everyone else, we are likely going to be wrong about a bunch of stuff. Keep that in mind.
In addition, we will be producing a theory-crafting article in which we will present you with ideas on what kind of decks could be successful from each class in Badlands. It will be released on Monday, November 13th, a day before the expansion’s launch.
We’ve assessed cards based on their potential strength and scored them accordingly from 1 to 4 based on the guidelines below.
4- Meta-defining, or an extremely powerful card we have great confidence will see play. Translation: Busted!
3- Very strong card that we’re confident will see play. Translation: Nice!
2- Decent, or niche card with potential to see play. Translation: Okay!
1- A card we don’t believe will see competitive play, for whatever reason. Translation: Meh!
For neutral cards that we believe will see play, we’ve also listed the classes or decks that are most likely to use them.
Each class piece ends in final thoughts regarding the class’ prospects and its rankings.
Showdown in the Badlands Set rank: How strong is the class’ new set?
Overall Power Ranking: How strong are the class’ prospects based on the entire standard card pool?
Spoilers: Showdown in the Badlands Summary of Ranks
The problem with the DK rune system is less that it’s “too restrictive” and more that there is not enough incentive to run decks that aren’t mono-rune. This is less of a problem with Frost-Unholy since there is some support for deathrattle decks there, but there is no reason at all to run a Blood-Frost deck, and the only Unholy-Blood archetype that currently exists (Handbuff) isn’t interested in running Maw and Paw or A Fistful of Corpses. It’s true these two cards don’t really make sense in their current iteration but a better solution would be to design them to also work in a potential Blood-Unholy archetype rather than just knocking off an Unholy rune and calling it a day.
The way the rune system should ideally work is that the more general, building-block type cards should have one or no rune. The more runes a card has, the more powerful and specialized it should be. However, two-rune cards should still be designed to work in multiple archetypes. With that in mind, Reska, the Pit Boss is a good example of a well-designed two rune card since it synergizes both with the corpse-heavy Rainbow DK and the UUF Deathrattle DK. If neither of those archetypes pan out and they “buff” Reska by removing a Frost rune I’ll be pretty disappointed, since that’ll create even less incentive for players to try out interesting rune combinations.