The final round of cards for Hearthstone’s upcoming expansion, The Witchwood, has been revealed, with 135 cards in total joining the game to open the Year of the Raven. That said, Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan, …
The final round of cards for Hearthstone’s upcoming expansion, The Witchwood, has been revealed, with 135 cards in total joining the game to open the Year of the Raven. That said, Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan, and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan (bye, Jade!) are on their way out if you’re playing Standard format. But how will these new cards affect the play of the new expansion?
Well, we don’t know yet. Not until we see everything in play, with the decks that the pros (and amateurs) will put together to actually play. But we can look at the cards and get a picture of which cards might be the scariest to come up against when the expansion drops Thursday. Here are some of the cards you should watch out for:
Don’t underestimate the power of the small cards. Dire Frenzy is a Hunter card with a lot of punch if used on the right minion. Imagine this used on an Echo card with a fairly low cost, or any other card that allows you to duplicate it. Or with something like Stitched Tracker or Tundra Rhino; something with a nice Battlecry. Dire Frenzy does suffer from being a slower card, but when paired with a powerful Hunter deck, it could be worrisome.
Yeah, Dragon Priest isn’t going anywhere. Nightscale Matriarch will easily be a staple of Dragon Priest decks, and with the Priest’s healing abilities, it won’t be a problem for such decks to reach the point of being able to play this effectively and powerfully. Couple it with various Priest cards that buff health and attack, and you’ll never get this off the board without a decent Hex or Polymorph.
A strong Warlock legendary with a board clear? Did Warlock really need more board clears? Well, they got one, and a surprising one that doesn’t rely on the Warlock depleting its own health pool. You’ll need to play this intelligently, as there may be some math involved to make sure the board clear is as effective as it can be, but with other lower cost cards to knock health off minions beforehand, Lord Godfrey could save a Warlock’s day.
Baku the Mooneater is obvious a card you build a deck around. The Witchwood includes many cards that revolve around having only odd or even cost cards, then also includes cards intended to be a part of those decks. Baku the Mooneater is a powerful enough late-game card on his own, but his special effect can do things like double the health a Priest heals itself for or let Shamans choose their totems (wait, that one sucks). Your mileage may vary based on the class you play, but a well-crafted deck centered around Baku could be a force to reckon with.
Holy moly. Okay, so Shudderwock seems like the kind of card that required one hell of a Q/A team to make sure all the Battlecries don’t just pile up in bizarre ways. If you’re playing a strong Shaman Battlecry deck (something that may make a comeback with this card around), Shudderwock could save your game by drawing a bunch of cards for you, blowing up the board, healing you, or any number of other things that may help or hurt you depending on how well you’ve kept track of Battlecries already. Just be wary of using it if your opponent also has a good Battlecry deck, or you may end up destroying yourself!
Hearthstone’s The Witchwood launches as a free update on Thursday, April 12. You can still pre-purchase your 50 card packs for $49.99 until Thursday, and everyone can log in when the expansion drops for a free legendary and three free card packs.
