Spoiler: New Cards
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Shield of Galakrond - Neutral 5 mana 4/5. Taunt, Invoke.
- Seems pretty solid to me. The three Galakrond powers we know off all make this look like a good value - it's either putting a Lackey into your hand in Rogue, a random class minion into your hand in Priest, or two 1/1 Imps on the board in Warlock. Likely to see play in any Galakrond-using decks, I feel.
Seal Fate: Rogue 3 mana spell. Deal 3 damage to an undamaged character. Invoke.
- Not sure why it has the undamaged restriction, but eh, that isn't usually a big deal. Seems like a good card if Rogue can use Galakrond, 3 damage and a Lackey for 3 mana.
Galakrond, the Nightmare: Rogue 7 mana Hero. Battlecry: Draw 1 card, it costs 0 (Invoke twice to upgrade). New hero power: 2 mana, put a Lackey in your hand.
- Definitely has potential. That battlecry is strong, especially when fully upgraded (and incidentally, it sucks that the card gallery can't display what the upgrades are - I only know that the final version is Draw 4 and equip a 5/2 weapon because of Trump's video on the first few cards revealed). My question is whether the upgrade effect only triggers if you're holding Galakrond in your hand when you Invoke, though - that's how upgrades of the past worked, and makes this substantially harder to upgrade since, well, legendary, there will only be one in your deck. If that's so, I'm a bit iffier on these cards' overall power level, but they're definitely worth a shot, I think.
Yesra Unleashed: Druid 9 mana 4/12 Dragon. Battlecry: shuffle 7 Dream Portals into your deck. When drawn, summon a random Dragon.
- Well, random Dragons are typically good. Shuffling cards that do stuff when drawn into your deck, typically less good, though Druid has a lot of draw power at the moment - though that is in Quest Druid with the 1/4 draw minion and Choose Both Nourish, and I don't know whether that deck wants to incorporate a bunch of Dragons that don't benefit from the quest. And a 9 mana 4/12 that does nothing on the turn it comes down, also typically less good - hence why we've sadly seen so little of classic Ysera in such a long time. Sadly, not feeling this one at the moment.
Lightning Breath: Shaman 3 mana spell. Deal 4 damage to a minion. If you're holding a Dragon, also damage its neighbors.
- Mini-Flamestrike at less than half the cost? Sign me the heck up! I've already done some Dragon synergy Control Shamans once or twice in the past, and holy Toledo is this a good card for that. If Shaman's other Dragon cards look this good, we might see Dragon Shaman emerge as a real thing, despite how strong Quest Shaman already is.
Emerald Explorer: Druid 6 mana 4/8 Dragon. Taunt. Battlecry: Discover a Dragon.
- Holy smokes, is that good. Good stat distribution for a taunt minion at that price, plus a solid Discover battlecry? That is a serious push to a value-oriented, non-Quest Druid. Ysera may be less convincing, but this looks like it gives Dragon/Control Druid more potential.
Phase Stalker: Hunter 2 mana 2/3. After you use your Hero Power, cast a Secret from your deck.
- So, oddly enough, Hunter basically gets Inspire all over again. On the up side, they're making the Inspire effects stronger this time - this is Mad Scientist's deathrattle, which was great. But it was also free on a body only slightly weaker than this, while this costs an extra 2 mana, using a hero power that doesn't impact the board. Given how bad Inspire was outside of exactly Murloc Knight (which still fell off when more weak Murlocs were added to the pool), and the fact that Hunter hero power in particular doesn't feel like one of the better ones to use Inspire with, I'm a bit skeptical of all of these at the moment despite the effects' power. But I'm also the wrong guy to judge Hunter cards, so, we'll see.
Dwarven Sharpshooter: Hunter 1 mana 1/3. Your Hero Power can target minions.
- Hey, it's that one old card whose name I've forgotten and can't be bothered to look up, but dropped to 1 mana and losing only 1 attack for it. That's a definite improvement, to be sure, but I don't know whether it's enough of one to make it see play. Wait and see mode here.
Dragonbane: Hunter 4 mana 3/5 Mech. After you use your Hero Power, deal 5 damage to a random enemy minion.
- Pretty darn strong Inspire effect on a reasonable body for the cost - they're definitely pushing this. Still, same comments as Phase Stalker, I am skeptical and unsure of how this experiment will turn out just at the moment.
Twin Tyrant: Neutral 8 mana 4/10 Dragon. Battlecry: Deal 4 damage to two random enemy minions.
- My question is, can the two shots hit the same target, or do they have to hit two different ones? If the former, this might have potential; if the latter... it's a lot more meta dependent, I think. If any Dragon deck takes off it feels like this won't be great, since 4 damage typically won't kill a lot of Dragons. Still, as pack filler goes, it's above the usual curve, I think.
Evasive Drakonid: Neutral 7 mana 7/7 Dragon. Taunt, Cannot be Targeted by spells or Hero Powers.
- My initial reaction was to brush this aside as too vanilla, but honestly, we've never seen a taunt + can't be targeted minion with stats this good before, so it might just have potential. I'm particularly thinking of it in combination with Dragonspeaker in Paladin, which can handbuff it into a 10/10 Taunt + Can't be targeted. Might be a thing.
Praise Galakrond: Rogue 1 mana spell. Give a minion +1 attack. Invoke.
- Eh, feels like one of the weaker Invoke cards to me. As we've seen with the Rush lackey, +1 attack is often not that impactful. Still, putting a Lackey into your hand plus an extra effect for only 1 mana isn't something I can totally dismiss, it might just be good enough to see play.
Umbral Stalker: Rogue 4 mana 3/3. Battlecry: If you've Invoked twice, put three coins into your hand.
- That is a lot of bonus mana for Invoking twice. The big question I guess is, how likely are you to Invoke twice before turn 4 in Rogue? So far, doesn't look like very - you might use Seal Fate on 3, but your only other early Invoke so far revealed is Praise Galakrond, which requires a minion on your side of the board first (unless you're willing to hand your opponent a buff just to get a Lackey, anyway), making it trickier to see play that quickly. So that depends on further Invoke cards. If it's not likely to be active on turn 4, how good is this? Eh... iffier. It's still strong in the mid-game, but coins lose a lot of value at turn 10+ typically. With that many that you can guaranteed get though someone might make a combo deck that does an 11+ mana combo to OTK though, so that's definitely a worry. I don't know, hard card to evaluate just at the moment.
Breath of Dreams: Druid 2 mana spell. Draw a card. If you're holding a Dragon, gain an empty mana crystal.
- Wild Growth is back and better than ever, but only in a Dragon deck. So far, we're on 2/3 Dragon Druid cards that look pretty darn good. But the fact that they don't seem like they just go into the Quest deck and the class otherwise lacks a lot of support for a more Control-oriented playstyle right now still makes me iffy. I'd be quite happy if any Dragon Control deck works out to be good, just not sure if it'll be Druid.
Galakrond, the Wretched: Warlock 7 mana Hero. Battlecry: Summon 1 random Demon (Invoke twice to upgrade). New hero power: 2 mana, Summon two 1/1 Imps.
- Okay, not knowing the upgraded versions of the hero power makes evaluating this harder, particularly since the Rogue one unexpectedly jumped from 2 cards at level 2 to 4 and a weapon at level 3, so there may be a big power spike at the max level I'm missing. Still, this is the Galakrond that we know of so far that I'm personally the least interested in. It feels more aimed at Zoo Warlock rather than a Control one, which saddens me, because summoning tokens is typically more of a Zoo thing to do. Certainly that hero power has nothing on Jaraxxus or Bloodreaver Gul'dan's. The battlecry is Gul'dan-ish, particularly if it spikes more when fully upgraded, but it's also random where Gul'dan got you demons that were good enough to be in your deck to begin with, so even that's iffier. And as with the Rogue Galakrond, there's the question of whether it needs to be in your hand to upgrade, which could make a big different.
Dragonblight Cultist: Warlock 3 mana 1/1. Invoke. Battlecry: Gain +1 attack for each other friendly minion.
- So, on an empty board, this is a 3 mana 3/1 + two 1/1 demons. That's probably not great - yes, it's 5/3 of stats for 3, but not distributed well. On a bigger board the main body gets more attack, but is still stuck at 1 health and dies to hero powers, any AoE, a 1/1 on the enemy board (or 1/1 rush like the Lynxes in Hunter), etc. One of the less impressive Invoke cards. Also another reason the Warlock Galakrond looks Zoo-oriented, Control Warlock would scoff at this.
Fiendish Rites: Warlock 3 mana spell. Invoke. Give your minions +1 attack.
- Assuming the buff happens after Invoking, this is two 2/1 demons for 3 on an empty board, which sucks. That means it's very much aimed at Zoo Warlock, to my sadness. Could be good there though. ...actually, now I wonder whether Invoke works if you don't run Galakrond? Because even if Galakrond himself doesn't turn out to be something that Zoo wants, I could still see this being something it wants. Tokens plus a buff plays so perfectly with their game plan.
Veiled Worshipper: Warlock 4 mana 5/4. Battlecry: If you've Invoked twice, draw three cards.
- Chalk up another in the "Galakrond Warlock is zoo-oriented" category. Control Warlock doesn't normally need extra card draw, since they'll use Life Tap a decent amount until their hero card comes down. Zoo is always happy for more since they empty their hand fast - and this helps make up for losing Life Tap if they play Galakrond himself. Again, not sure if Galakrond Zoo will be a thing, but if it is, this will be in it.
Galakrond the Unspeakable: Priest 7 mana Hero. Battlecry: Destroy 1 random enemy minion (Invoke twice to upgrade). New hero power: 2 mana, add a random Priest minion to your hand.
- Again, not knowing the upgrades or whether it needs to be in your hand to upgrade hurts my ability to evaluate this. At first glance though, it's the Galakrond that we know of that looks weakest to me, but most appeals to me personally. Because that Hero Power is infinite value for a Control Priest, and that battlecry is very much something Control Priest wants. So while I'm iffy at best on whether it will be good, I look forward to trying it.
Devoted Maniac: Neutral 4 mana 2/2 minion. Rush, Invoke.
- Possibly the weakest Invoke card revealed, it doesn't look particularly good with any of the known Galakronds to me. Unless Invoke is just super valuable in some deck, I'm not expecting much from it.
Time Rip: Priest 5 mana spell. Destroy a minion. Invoke.
- Assassinate plus Invoke? Not bad, but not amazing. If Galakrond Control Priest goes anywhere I'd expect it to run this, but this doesn't push that deck much I feel.
Fate Weaver: Priest 4 mana 3/6 Dragon. Battlecry: If you've Invoked twice, reduce the cost of cards in your hand by 1.
- This, on the other hand, kind of does. 4 mana 3/6 is good stats, and a Thaurissan tick as a battlecry is big. Though sadly it does push the deck in a combo-oriented direction, which I'm less a fan of than the Control direction of the other Galakrond Priest cards. At the moment it doesn't look like you can drop it on 4 and get the battlecry though, there's no known neutral or Priest Invoke cards that cost 3 or less, and that is a consideration.
Toxic Reinforcements: 1 mana Hunter spell. Sidequest: use your Hero Power three times. Reward: Summon three 1/1 Leper Gnomes.
- Leper Gnomes are for aggro; using your hero power a lot typically isn't. Granted, Hunter Hero Power is oriented towards aggro, but even Face Hunters only used it when they had nothing better to do. Not terribly impressed with this one at the moment.
Learn Draconic: Mage 1 mana spell. Sidequest: spend 8 mana on spells. Reward: Summon a 6/6 Dragon.
- Now that's more like it as a sidequest reward - 1 man 6/6, relatively easy condition. Don't know what Mage deck will want this (could they possibly give Quest Mage enough tools to be more than a fringe deck this time?), but if a Mage deck that uses a lot of spells is a thing, I would expect to see this in it.
Azure Explorer: Mage 4 mana 2/3 Dragon. Spell Damage +2. Battlecry: Discover a Dragon.
- Terrible stats for the cost, spell damage... but it does get value from that discover. I don't know, seems like a bad hodge-podge of effects to me at first glance, but maybe there's a niche for it in some Mage deck I can't currently imagine.
Primordial Explorer: Hunter 3 mana 2/3 Dragon. Poisonous. Battlecry: Discover a Dragon.
- Dragon-type Cobra with Discover a Dragon on it? Solid. Not sure what Hunter deck wants it, but on its own, it's a good card, so it might find a place.
Malygos, Aspect of Magic: mage 5 mana 2/8 Dragon. Battlecry: if you're holding a Dragon, Discover an upgraded Mage spell.
- Impossible to evaluate without know what an "upgraded Mage spell" means, which the gallery gives me no clues about. I will say, that two attack stat sucks though, so they'd better be pretty good to make this appealing.
Deathwing, Mad Aspect: Warrior 8 mana 12/12 Dragon. Battlecry: Attack ALL other minions.
- Well, it's an 8 mana 12/12 on an empty board, but that's unlikely to ever happen since even Warrior doesn't get 2 mana board wipe. So it's really more like an 8 mana board wipe that might leave you a 12/x - if that, since if the enemy has more than 12 attack worth of minions, it dies without wiping the board. Yeah, first impression, not a fan.
Waxadred: Rogue 5 mana 7/5 Dragon. Deathrattle: Shuffle a Candle into your deck that resummons Waxadred when drawn.
- Value Rogue card, very slow, probably not great as such.
Sand Breath: Paladin 1 mana spell. Give a minon +1/+2. If you're holding a Dragon, give it Divine Shield.
- Good cheap buff for Dragon Paladin... but Dragon Paladin is decidedly not an aggro deck, and I question whether even a buff this cost-effective is worth running in a slower deck when it's just a 1 mana buff.
Candle Breath: Rogue 6 mana spell. Draw 3 cards. Costs 3 less if you're holding a Dragon.
- 3 mana draw 3 in Dragon Rogue, not bad. But what else does Dragon Rogue get to come together as a deck? Because even with this, my skepticism of Waxadred remains, personally, and I don't assume that Galakrond Rogue will necessarily be a Dragon deck.
Corrosive Breath: Hunter 2 mana spell. Deal 3 damage to a minion. If you're holding a Dragon, it also hits the enemy hero.
- Solid spell for an aggro Dragon Hunter, if such a thing exists. Doesn't seem like the kind of deck that the other Dragon Hunter card, the Primordial Explorer, pushes, though, an Dragon cards in the past haven't typically been aggro-oriented, so I have to question whether it'll see play. Though maybe the classic 2 mana deal is just enough on its own.