Platysaur
A 1 mana 1/2 that draws a card is very strong, but Platysaur’s drawback makes it very weak on turn 1. We want to play Platysaur when we have enough mana left over to play the card we draw from it, to circumvent the deathrattle. This means that without special synergies, we want to play a deck with a low curve.
There are two classes that have mechanics that can circumvent the deathrattle without needing to play the drawn card. Rogue can bounce Platysaur with either Shadowstep or Web of Deception. A Cycle Rogue deck can potentially use it, as its curve tends to be cheap. Imbue Shaman can evolve Platysaur on the turn it is played.
This is a rare 1-attack Beast, so a Quest Hunter could use it, but it might waste the drawn card.
Score: 2
Classes: Hunter, Rogue, Shaman
Sizzling Cinder
This 1-drop has some value in Shaman due to its synergy with Slagclaw, but we are not convinced it warrants its own deck slot. The body is weak, while the deathrattle can be controlled by the opponent. A positive argument is that Sizzling Cinder resembles Violet Spellwing, which has successfully seen play in Mage decks before. Could be included in Elemental decks.
Score: 2
Classes: Mage, Shaman
Curious Explorer
A 2 mana 3/5 is a powerful body to potentially include in an aggressive deck, but the deathrattle is a massive drawback. The net outcome of Curious Explorer is not positive. In terms of overall impact, it is akin to spending 4 mana on a 3/5. The deathrattle is delayed, so it is stronger than that, but once the opponent kills Explorer, they should be able to get ahead.
It is likely strong on turn 2, when it is very difficult to kill, but our concern is how much it falls off in later turns, when it possibly becomes a negative play.
Score: 1
Questing Assistant
On the surface, this seems like a card you would want to include in Quest decks, as it helps them fight for board early. A 2 mana 3/2 that deals 2 damage is above the curve for a 2-drop. However, Quest decks need cards that directly further their game plan, or in other words, progress their quests as quickly as possible.
Questing Assistant only accomplishes that in Demon Hunter. We suspect it will not see play outside of it. If it dealt 3 damage, it would be able to reliably kill most early game minions in the format. That would have been worth it. At 2 damage, it does not.
Score: 2
Classes: Demon Hunter
Rockskipper
A 2 mana 1/3 is a very weak body, but Rockskipper gives us a powerful damage spell. 3 damage for 1 mana that can go face is a good rate. If we combine the effects, a 3 mana 1/3 that deals 3 damage is not good enough for constructed play. The split effects make it more flexible, but it needs synergies to be a worthwhile inclusion.
It is a Murloc 2-drop, so Quest Paladin should run the card. 2-drops are very important in Quest decks, as they pass turn 1. It might also be a useful card in Rogue, since we can bounce it and generate multiple Rocks for a potential burst turn later. It is also a combo activator.
Score: 3
Classes: Paladin, Rogue
Ancient Stegodon
This is a 1-attack Beast, which makes it a potential candidate in Quest Hunter. Its taunt ability also makes it scale well with Dinomancy. However, this minion is not particularly powerful in any form, so we cannot see it being played in any other deck. Even in Quest Hunter, it is not a guaranteed inclusion. We do not have much faith in Quest Hunter to begin with, so this minion will likely be forgotten.
Score: 1
Classes: Hunter
Marshland Thresher
Is a 3 mana 3/3 with Divine Shield even that strong? Thresher is a weak minion on-curve that can potentially become a 3-drop that is slightly worth more stats than the average constructed 3-drop. We cannot see why we would play this in any deck.
Score: 1
Petrified Ogre
Another unreliable Ogre minion. The important thing to note is that Petrified Ogre can only wake up at the start of our turn. The best-case scenario is that it wakes up at the first opportunity, but then it is a 3 mana 5/5 with summoning sickness for two turns. That is not worth it.
If Ogre stays asleep, it can get bigger, but dormant minions do nothing while they are dormant. Only an aggressive deck could potentially want a pile of stats of this kind, but it also does not want to pass turns in the early game.
Score: 1
Pterrordax Egg
When this Egg pops, the minion inside it will perform a one-time action that ‘sucks’ 1 health out of all other minions, including friendly ones. In faster matchups, this effect could be powerful as a pseudo-AOE, but in slower matchups, we may find ourselves with just a 3/3. That is paying one extra mana for a worse Nerubian Egg.
The only chance this card sees play is in dedicated Egg decks. Hunter and Warrior (Enrage) are the classes currently best positioned to utilize it. Druid has a better Egg at the 3-mana slot.
Score: 2
Classes: Hunter, Warrior
Relic Miner
Ignoring the drawback, is a 3 mana 3/3 that discovers that good? It is slightly better than a Vulpera Scoundrel, but we wonder if 1 extra attack is worth destroying a card in our deck. We suspect the answer is no, especially when we are playing a slow deck that could have specific cards that are key to its win condition. We do not think a fast deck wants to run an undersized 3-drop either.
The only class that might play this is Mage, due to its quest, but we think it has enough discover effects without Relic Miner.
Score: 1
Undercover Cultist
You can think of Cultist as a 2/3 taunt that summons a 5/1 taunt when it dies. Not the worst deal for the cost, yet we struggle to see which deck plays this minion. Enrage Warrior is the only deck with synergies that can fit Cultist, but we think the archetype should have better things to do.
Score: 1
Blob of Tar
Blob of Tar has already made a big impact on the format upon its early release, yet we consider it to be underrated and underplayed considering how well it performs in metrics. The numbers on this card do not lie and they represent a package that is easily worth more than the 4 mana cost. A 2/4 Taunt with Poisonous is comfortably worth 3 mana. The deathrattle is worth more than 1 mana.
This is an incredibly annoying body to remove, forcing unfavorable trades on the opponent with two Poisonous bodies, while offering serious stalling with two taunts. It is a strong defensive card for control decks yet has also proven to be powerful in faster Menagerie decks, due to its Elemental tag and stickiness. It is possibly the best setup card for a turn 5 Menagerie Jug. Not only is it hard to cleanly remove, but it also protects the rest of our board from trades.
Ubiquitous.
Score: 4
Classes: Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warrior
Crater Gator
This effect is not relevant in enough matchups to be worthwhile. A baseline 4 mana 5/4 is not an acceptable play in any aggressive deck, which is the target audience for this minion. Tech cards in aggressive decks are usually even worse than tech cards in other decks, since you cannot afford to save them for the right moment.
Score: 1
Primal Sabretooth
This card is slow, and its stats are aggressively skewed, yet it encourages us to trade to make use of its effect. We do not see why we would be interested in the effect in the first place. An enemy minion has no synergy with our deck, so we should not work this hard to get a copy of it. 4 mana for a 5/3 that needs to trade is dire.
Score: 1
Steamfin Thief
A strong minion for Quest Paladin specifically, as it both accelerates quest completion, and serves as a powerful post-quest payoff. Primalfin Challenger sets up perfectly into it, which should be one of the more powerful combinations in the deck. The Kindred ability is trivial to activate and should be considered baseline in a Murloc deck.
Score: 3
Classes: Paladin
Willful Watcher
This type of minion can only be seen in a beatdown aggressive deck, as the drawback is crippling for late game strategies that cannot afford to burn their cards for early game initiative.
But the body is hardly worth the drawback. A 4/7 for 4 mana hardly puts the amount of pressure required to end the game quickly. If it were a 4 mana 7/7, we would be comparing this minion favorably to old Bittertide Hydra or Fel Reaver. This is weak.
Score: 1
Scalehide Kodo
A 6 mana 3/6 is extremely slow, so we cannot see how it is an acceptable minion to play in just any deck, even if there will be occasions when the opponent only has one big minion on the board that this Kodo can kill.
The Kindred ability sets up Kodo to always hit what is likely the highest value target on the board, but Kindred requires us to run a more dedicated Beast deck. We believe only Hunter has the capacity to support Kodo. Can Hunter run such a slow card? Supreme Dinomancy encourages us to run cheaper minions so we can drop them faster to the board post-Dinomancy. Kodo seems like a very clunky inclusion in that archetype. A Quest Hunter deck is not desperate for 3-attack Beasts either.
Score: 1
Classes: Hunter
Tar Tyrant
This minion is just a callback to the Tar taunt minions from Journey to Un’Goro. The only playable one was Tar Creeper, as it was the cheapest at the time. Tar Slime is a better, cuter callback.
Score: 1
Whirling Stormdrake
This minion is simply too expensive to be included in a constructed deck. It is not even that good of a big minion to cheat out, as its Kindred ability cannot be activated that way. If we ever want a 9-mana swing card, there is Zilliax.
Score: 1
Ultragigasaur
The funniest neutral of the set. There are two potential uses for Ultragigasaur. One is a big minion we are looking to cheat out through any type of mechanic available, though its lack of defensive keywords makes it a greedy inclusion in what is likely a greedy deck.
The other use is Elise fodder. We are never meant to play or draw this minion, but it has a unique cost that can help us accommodate Elise in a deck. This is a long shot, as we can just run a playable card at any other cost instead. That alternative card, as awkward as it might be, will still be more playable than a card that is literally unplayable.
We would be very happy to see this minion be included in a competitive deck, but it seems unlikely.
Score: 1
Dissolving Ooze
This minion sacks another friendly minion and turns its stats into a 2 mana buff. There are various scenarios where this action is worthwhile.
If we have two minions in play, we can attack with one, kill it, then immediately use the buff on the other, essentially attacking twice with the stats of one minion. This requires us to have 5 mana available and a board, so it is not a reliable game plan.
A deathrattle minion represents a good target, though in the case of an egg, the buff would not be impactful, as it will have no attack value.
We can play a big, discounted minion, such as a giant, then sack it immediately to turn it into a cheap buff that we use on a minion in play we can attack with or store the buff to use on a charge minion later.
All these scenarios are situational or require deckbuilding that supports it. Ooze has the highest chance of seeing play in deathrattle decks.
Score: 2
Classes: Deathrattle decks.
Primalfin Challenger
While every class has some sort of Kindred card, Challenger’s best fit is clearly in Quest Paladin. It is a Murloc that curves into Steamfin Thief, one of the most powerful plays available to the deck. If the Kindred ability is worth over 1 mana, then Primalfin Challenger can be considered worth it, based on its stats and cost.
The second most likely class to use the card is Shaman, as it has two Kindred minions that can be doubled up (Slagclaw, Volcanic Thrasher). Silithid Queen in Demon Hunter can hilariously deal 10 damage if set up by Challenger, but the card is hard to activate in the class. Tempting though.
Score: 3
Classes: Demon Hunter, Paladin, Shaman
Stranglevine
This is a very slow minion with a dubious benefit. A 3 mana 3/2 is a weak body, but unlike Primalfin Challenger, it does not have a guaranteed benefit. We cannot know whether this bonus keyword leverages the random minion’s abilities well. The deathrattle is potentially “infinite”, but the impact is so slow and unreliable that we cannot consider this constructed worthy. We are not even sure this minion would have been good enough as a 3 mana 3/4.
Score: 1
Ancient Pterrordax
Though we have choices and flexibility, none of Pterrordax’ options are constructed-worthy stat lines. A 4 mana 4/4 with temporary stealth is bad. A 4 mana 4/4 with Elusive is bad. A 4 mana 4/4 with Windury is bad. A hot dog stand does not become a gourmet restaurant just because it can serve three different buns.
Score: 1
Cloud Serpent
A 4 mana 4/3 is a horrendous stat line that almost always fails to make it to Standard even when its ability generates a bunch of value. In the case of Cloud Serpent, the copy effect is nothing special. There is only one utilization in this set that we are a bit interested in, which is Serpent’s ability to copy Priest’s quest reward. We do not have much faith in Quest Priest, so we do not expect this card to be competitive.
Score: 1
Classes: Priest
Ancient Raptor
Another minion that offers plenty of choices, but none of them are good. A 2 mana 2/1 with Divine Shield needs to have further upside to be competitive. The deathrattle option is not worth a 2 mana package either. The attack buff option is for when you know you are about to win and want to BM your opponent.
Score: 1
Crystal Tender
An anti-Druid tech card, yet not even a good one. If our opponent has ramped up a bunch, this is our way to match the pace. But this does not stop our ramping opponents from reaching their power turns, which is far more important. Massive bait.
Score: 1
Tortollan Storyteller
This minion screams ‘Menagerie’, but we are not convinced it is that strong in Menagerie decks. The main reason why we are hesitant is that Menagerie Mug, a minion that has more front-loaded stats and immediate damage, cannot make the cut in Menagerie decks.
Storyteller can repeat the buff effect if left alone and is not limited to buffing three minions. However, it is unlikely to survive a turn as a 1/2 and it is also unlikely to buff more than three minions in the early game. We think it gets skipped over. Menagerie Jug is still the king of Menagerie decks.
Score: 1
Stormbrewer
Sort of 5 mana 6/6 rush in Elemental decks. It is a little bit better than that, since it can avoid getting damaged if it rushes into a 3-health minion or less that dies to the shot.
We do not think there is space for it even in Elemental decks. If we want to play Torga in Shaman, for example, then it hurts the consistency in finding our better Kindred cards.
Score: 1
Ravenous Devilsaur
We just cannot get behind this fantasy of a Beast Hunter deck with a high curve. Yes, it does seem nice that we get to have strong single target removal with both Kodo and Devilsaur, but running a high curve makes our best card (Dinomancy) less effective and less explosive.
Single target removal, no matter how many stats it can produce, should not cost 7 mana, so there is no chance this minion sees play in any other class.
Score: 1
Elise the Navigator
A value bomb neutral legendary. Elise gives us the option to discover a location with three different costs. Each location has three charges. Then we get to discover 2 effects out of 7 different options. These effects scale in power with the higher cost locations.
Deathrattle: Deal 3/5/10 to all enemies.
Gain 3/6/12 armor.
Summon 1/3/6 2/1 Raptors with rush.
Summons a 1/1 / 5/5 / 10/10 copy of a friendly minion.
Discover a spell. It costs 1/4/7 less.
Your next spell has +1/+2/+4 spell damage.
Give your characters +1/+2/+4 attack this turn.
Whatever cost we decide on, the location we discover will have value packed in that is worth significantly more than the total cost of the location and Elise. Elise packs enormous value and is flexible enough to be utilized in different matchups. We suspect the standard cost of the location will be 5 mana, as it can follow up a turn 4 Elise. In faster matchups, we may opt for the 1 mana location. In slower, greedy matchups, a 10-mana location becomes feasible.
This legendary looks extremely powerful, so it is no surprise that it imposes a unique deckbuilding restriction. This restriction determines which classes can use it well, as we need to build our deck with cards of 10 different mana costs.
Therefore, Elise has some synergy in decks that run cards with costs that exceed 10, since it makes it easier to follow the condition and skip a mana slot where we may not have a good card. The Ceaseless Expanse and the Protoss faction’s win conditions (Carrier, Mothership, Colossus) are good examples. 0 mana cards are also valuable, since not every class has good ones. Rogue, Druid and Warlock have an advantage here.
Generally, we think every control deck will try to fit Elise in, if it can run a reasonable curve to support its condition. We suspect Rogue will be able to abuse it better than most classes, as Fyrakk/Ashamane Rogue looks like the perfect fit for Elise.
Score: 4
Classes: Death Knight, Druid, Mage, Rogue, Priest, Warlock, Warrior
Torga
A 4 mana 2/7 that tutors 2 cards is a good deal. Torga can help us find Kindred cards more consistently, which is worthwhile if the Kindred cards are crucial to our game plan. It also finds an activator card for them, which improves our ability to optimize their usage. Torga is a beast, so it can activate some Kindred cards itself.
The most obvious candidates to utilize Torga well are Hunter and Shaman. Torga is probably the best support card for Silithid Queen in Demon Hunter. Priest and Druid may run Torga to find their new draw engines more consistently.
Score: 3
Classes: Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter, Priest, Shaman
City Chief Esho
Esho works like Supreme Dinomancy, as it buffs all our minions, wherever they are. Considering it is a 6-mana Boulderfist Ogre (sort of), it represents a massive amount of pressure on the opponent if we have a board. Esho helps us win in two ways. If we have a board, it can help us kill the opponent. Otherwise, it scales our deck and makes it easier for us to sustain pressure in the late game against even the most defensive minded decks.
The tricky part is the condition, which is extremely restrictive and leaves little room for flexibility. The only decks that can utilize Esho are pure tribal decks. The tribes to watch out for in this expansion are Murlocs (Paladin), Beasts (Hunter) and Elementals (Shaman/Mage).
Score: 3
Classes: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Shaman
Endbringer Umbra
Umbra, the pre-release legendary, has proven to be a potent card in deathrattle decks. It is limited to 5 minions, so ideally, our deck has a curated pool of deathrattles that can maximize Umbra’s battlecry and turn it into a late game threat.
Starship Demon Hunter works well with Umbra thanks to Arkonite Defense Crystal and Ferocious Felbat, or Ball Hog and Ravenous Felhunter. A Death Knight deck with Herenn/Wakener might be a consideration for this expansion. Umbra can also follow up Priest’s quest reward for more burst damage.
This card can potentially go into every class, should it receive a suitable deathrattle package in the future.
Score: 3
Classes: Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Druid, Priest, Warrior
Krog, Crater King
Krog shrinks all enemy minions at the end of our turn, making it more of a reactive card than a threat. It does make it difficult for the opponent to kill it through minion trades, but it is still a slow card that is vulnerable to off-board removal.
Shrinking minions does not answer potential abilities or effects that they have. The shrink effect is often not good enough to be worth running as a constructed card, as we have seen with many Paladin cards that perform similar actions. Krog basically casts Subdue on all enemy minions.
While it can perform a role in a “big” deck, it is not a good standalone threat, especially in slower matchups. This is a minion we want to cheat out when we are under pressure, yet it is not particularly good against faster decks that have small minions anyway and do not lose as many stats from the Subdue effect.
We might not have looked hard enough, but we do not see a place for Krog in the foreseeable future. This minion looks like a boost to the Quest Hunter reward’s generation pool.
Score: 1
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