Hearthstone 22: Evening the Odds

[Rynjin]

I like Hero cards too, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say.

Especially if they take the time off to re-evaluate and tinker with their design philosophy for them. All of the Death Knights were so powerful they became one of the primary concerns when building a deck for that class. "Can i fit in my Death Knight?" they were auto-includes in any deck, and you needed a good reason NOT to add them for a lot of classes.

I loved Deathstalker Rexxar and will miss him dearly, but at least one expansion without something similar in every class making me hyper-focus on X class' new Hero Power (beyond the classes with hero cards that replace the arguably three weakest Hero powers in the game right now) is nice.

[Lord Raziere]

yeah? they probably don't want the heroes to be auto-include, because for example Hero hunter and hero mage just became things you put into every hunter and mage deck because they turn the tide in your favor so well every deck might as well have them, so every deck did. as well as warlock hero, they just became things you had to have to win. so now everyone has them. they probably want them to be closer to Jaraxxus and be something that is theoretically powerful but in practice has weaknesses.

[Zevox]

I like Hero cards too, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say.

Especially if they take the time off to re-evaluate and tinker with their design philosophy for them. All of the Death Knights were so powerful they became one of the primary concerns when building a deck for that class. "Can i fit in my Death Knight?" they were auto-includes in any deck, and you needed a good reason NOT to add them for a lot of classes.

I loved Deathstalker Rexxar and will miss him dearly, but at least one expansion without something similar in every class making me hyper-focus on X class' new Hero Power (beyond the classes with hero cards that replace the arguably three weakest Hero powers in the game right now) is nice.

Okay, setting possible arguments about the Death Knights aside: they already re-evaluated how they handled hero cards. Hagatha, Doctor Boom, and Zul'jin are all an order of magnitude weaker than the top Death Knights (Rexxar, Jaina, and Guldan), while still retaining their role as strong and defining tools of those classes' control decks.

New hero cards has been one of the only things I really have to look forward to recently. They perfectly fit with my preferred play style, and with a couple of exceptions actively make the game more fun for me, which as you may have noticed is not something very many things in Hearthstone are doing lately. I really can't see the news that there won't be even one new one in the new set to replace all the ones rotating out as anything but discouraging.

[Lord Raziere]

Eh? your right most of the time on the heroes, but I'd argue as someone whose played both warrior heroes, that the mech hero is better than DK hero, because I can't remember a time when DK warrior was good, but I can still see use for Dr. boom hero.

[Zevox]

Eh? your right most of the time on the heroes, but I'd argue as someone whose played both warrior heroes, that the mech hero is better than DK hero, because I can't remember a time when DK warrior was good, but I can still see use for Dr. boom hero.

Doctor Boom is definitely better than Garrosh in most situations, yes. Garrosh was one of the weakest of the original Death Knights, and one of those that saw the least play, though, so that's not surprising. I'd say that you can break the Death Knights up into three power tiers:

Top: Rexxar, Jaina, Guldan.
Middle: Malfurion, Anduin, Valeera.
Bottom: Uther, Thrall, Garrosh.

Like I said, Boom and the other newer hero cards are noticeably weaker than the strongest Death Knights. Rexxar just straight-up provides infinite value and can create absurdly powerful tools for any situation, Jaina provides a ridiculous amount of life gain and can provide near-infinite value if you can keep setting things up to die to her hero power, and Guldan provides a potentially absurd power burst the turn he's played and has one of the most potent board-affecting hero powers out of the Death Knights without the situational requirement of Jaina's.

By contrast, Boom and Hagatha have their potency limited by the RNG element of their hero powers, Hagatha's value is limited by the number of minions in her deck, and Zul'jin provides the strong power burst when played similar to Guldan but has a much more mild hero power. They're more on the power level of the more mid-tier Death Knights, which is probably where you want hero cards to be. Definitely good unlike the weaker Death Knights, who were often held back by being situational (Uther only working as a combo deck enabler, Thrall needing support for the evolve archetype specifically) or just being too weak (Garrosh, whose hero power was often a downgrade and so relied on that weapon being very good to make him worth playing at all), but not completely overbearing the way the best Death Knights could be.

[Rynjin]

Okay, setting possible arguments about the Death Knights aside: they already re-evaluated how they handled hero cards. Hagatha, Doctor Boom, and Zul'jin are all an order of magnitude weaker than the top Death Knights (Rexxar, Jaina, and Guldan), while still retaining their role as strong and defining tools of those classes' control decks.

And I'd say while Dr. Boom and Hagatha are both weaker than the three top DKs, they're also conspicuous auto-includes in their respective classes anyway.

That is not NECESSARILY a bad thing, but points to their handling of Hero card balance being wobblier than you're implying.

Zul'Jin is the odd man out as a card that's looking currently like it's going to be pretty worthless after the rotation, unless a plethora of powerful new Hunter spells is printed, since both Deathrattle Hunter* and Spellhunter (*sobs*) are being deleted form the game, and there's not a current deck that otherwise really works with it.

*I have been purposefully not following the meta since Rumble so don't know if Deathrattle actually runs Zul'Jin, but it seems a sensible include since it basically gives free extra casts of Play Dead.

New hero cards has been one of the only things I really have to look forward to recently. They perfectly fit with my preferred play style, and with a couple of exceptions actively make the game more fun for me, which as you may have noticed is not something very many things in Hearthstone are doing lately. I really can't see the news that there won't be even one new one in the new set to replace all the ones rotating out as anything but discouraging.

And that is your right, but at the same time if only one type of card really fits your playstyle, and the game isn't fun for you any more, consider taking a break for a while?

[Zevox]

And I'd say while Dr. Boom and Hagatha are both weaker than the three top DKs, they're also conspicuous auto-includes in their respective classes anyway.

That is not NECESSARILY a bad thing, but points to their handling of Hero card balance being wobblier than you're implying.

They're auto-includes in their classes' Control decks, yes, but that's what I'd say Hero cards should be.

Zul'Jin is the odd man out as a card that's looking currently like it's going to be pretty worthless after the rotation, unless a plethora of powerful new Hunter spells is printed, since both Deathrattle Hunter* and Spellhunter (*sobs*) are being deleted form the game, and there's not a current deck that otherwise really works with it.

Eh, it feels like there's enough good spells in Hunter that I'm not so sure of that myself. But I also don't play Hunter, so I'm not in the best position to judge. We'll see.

And that is your right, but at the same time if only one type of card really fits your playstyle, and the game isn't fun for you any more, consider taking a break for a while?

I already play very, very little. This month I think I've only played Brawls and a few low-rank Wild games, just to clear quests, and I haven't even completely kept up on clearing quests since DMC5 came out. And since I keep the amount I spend on the game to a tightly-controlled minimum, completely stopping play will just make coming back to the game harder, especially if they continue to nerf the Classic set in the meantime. No, if I stop entirely, it would almost surely not be a break, but me dropping the game forever.

Also, it's not that only Hero cards fit my playstyle, it's that they're an entire card type that is genuinely fun and exciting and basically always fit my playstyle just by the nature of their design. Ergo, they've become the thing I most look forward to.

[zlefin]

I look forward to fewer hero cards; or at lesat fewer ultra-powerful ones.
what tended to bother me most about the hero cards was that they were uncounterable; by which I mean, much like Justicar whatsisname, they provided a permanent long-term advantage which could not be inherently dealt with once played. whereas something like Ysera, could provide a lot of long term advantage, but once you've killed ysera it stops. Or for things which provide a larger strong burst effect, you could still try to board clear and then recover. but nothing you can do (other than a hero card of your own) can stop the long term advantage of an improved hero power.

that, and the degree to which "you don't own THIS specific legendary" puts a crimp into the viability of a hero in general.

[Anarion]

I think the powerful but consistent hero cards are okay. Gul'dan is crazy strong, but it costs 10 mana and was designed as a build-around card. Whole archetypes grew out of that demon summoning effect, not to mention the way it plays into warlock's card advantage by switching you to life recovery. Malfurion was the entire basis for Druid's lategame strength and offered interesting choices for the player to make as it's played in terms of whether you need the taunts or the removal guys. Jaina is a great defensive tool and incremental advantage generator, especially with Mage's options for doing damage in a bunch of different quantities. But Boom? Yuck, it's so random. Some games, you get a bit of extra life that does nothing and you do a few damage and then die. Other games you get the best possible card for the situation and then pull yourself out of lethal and get a ton of incremental card advantage. I hate it, it doesn't feel like it rewards either side, it's just luck. Same problem with Rexxar: sometimes you get some crazy aoe poison bat or charge lifesteal hydra that instantly swings the game in your favor, sometimes multiple times into otherwise insurmoutnable odds. Other games you get an overcosted 8/10 that doesn't do anything and you die a turn later. It's way too swingy and the choices it's presenting aren't thoughtful, you just hope that you get the thing you already know you want in your sets of options.

[Psyren]

They're auto-includes in their classes' Control decks, yes, but that's what I'd say Hero cards should be.

+1 to this, it's a lot like running a control deck in Magic with no planeswalker. There's just no reason not to.

Aggro decks meanwhile don't always care. My Tempo Mage for example never even looked at Jaina, as if I got to 9 mana without being in burn distance I was usually dead anyway. And I can't think of many good zoolock lists that ran Gul'dan.

[Joran]

+1 to this, it's a lot like running a control deck in Magic with no planeswalker. There's just no reason not to.

Aggro decks meanwhile don't always care. My Tempo Mage for example never even looked at Jaina, as if I got to 9 mana without being in burn distance I was usually dead anyway. And I can't think of many good zoolock lists that ran Gul'dan.

Before Zoo got solidified into the current Heal Zoo, during Witchwood, there was a more midrange Zoo list that included Gul'dan. I enjoyed that version more than the current Heal Zoo, but Heal Zoo definitely has the more explosive openers.

New card!

Swampqueen Hagatha (Shaman Legendary):

7 mana 5/5
Battlecry: Add a 5/5 Horror to your hand. Teach it two Shaman spells. (this is basically discover two Shaman spells. Only one spell can be targeted). When you play the 5/5 Horror, it'll cast the two spells and allow you to target one of them.

Video here: https://twitter.com/PlayHearthstone/...88241241698304

[Zevox]

I think the powerful but consistent hero cards are okay. Gul'dan is crazy strong, but it costs 10 mana and was designed as a build-around card. Whole archetypes grew out of that demon summoning effect, not to mention the way it plays into warlock's card advantage by switching you to life recovery. Malfurion was the entire basis for Druid's lategame strength and offered interesting choices for the player to make as it's played in terms of whether you need the taunts or the removal guys. Jaina is a great defensive tool and incremental advantage generator, especially with Mage's options for doing damage in a bunch of different quantities. But Boom? Yuck, it's so random. Some games, you get a bit of extra life that does nothing and you do a few damage and then die. Other games you get the best possible card for the situation and then pull yourself out of lethal and get a ton of incremental card advantage. I hate it, it doesn't feel like it rewards either side, it's just luck. Same problem with Rexxar: sometimes you get some crazy aoe poison bat or charge lifesteal hydra that instantly swings the game in your favor, sometimes multiple times into otherwise insurmoutnable odds. Other games you get an overcosted 8/10 that doesn't do anything and you die a turn later. It's way too swingy and the choices it's presenting aren't thoughtful, you just hope that you get the thing you already know you want in your sets of options.

From the perspective of someone playing against Rexxar, that felt entirely too consistent as it was, thanks.

And honestly, even though I can ocassionally be frustrated with Doctor Boom's RNG, it's mostly due to the existence of the 1 damage AoE hero power, which is pretty close to useless 90%+ of the time that it pops up, especially by comparison to the other four. Games can easily be decided by how often you roll that thing.

New card!

Swampqueen Hagatha:

7 mana 5/5
Battlecry: Add a 5/5 Horror to your hand. Teach it two Shaman spells. (this is basically discover two Shaman spells. Only one spell can be targeted). When you play the 5/5 Horror, it'll cast the two spells and allow you to target one of them.

Video here: https://twitter.com/PlayHearthstone/...88241241698304

Shaman legendary I see. Slow, but pretty good if the meta allows for it I'd say, especially with all the super strong Year of the Mammoth cards like the Lich King and Death Knights leaving. Goes nicely with the Hero Hagatha too, giving you two minions for her to add random spells off of. With the right support (particularly a new AoE to replace Eruption, I think), they might be able to be part of the backbone of a Control Shaman deck together.

[Resileaf]

It's also been stated that the first spell will be targeted while the second one won't be, so you can't stack two lava bursts.

[Joran]

It's also been stated that the first spell will be targeted while the second one won't be, so you can't stack two lava bursts.

Per Peter Whalen:

First choice is random. Second choice won’t have targeted spells if your first choice was targeted.

I read that as basically only 1 targeted spell; 2nd pool is only restricted if you chose a spell with a target on it on the first discover. But yes, no double Lava Burst face.

That does mean you can cobble together 2 Lightning storms... or maybe whatever the new Shaman board clear that replaces Volcano.

Shaman legendary I see. Slow, but pretty good if the meta allows for it I'd say, especially with all the super strong Year of the Mammoth cards like the Lich King and Death Knights leaving. Goes nicely with the Hero Hagatha too, giving you two minions for her to add random spells off of. With the right support (particularly a new AoE to replace Eruption, I think), they might be able to be part of the backbone of a Control Shaman deck together.

7 mana do nothing is pretty tough, but I like the design, it can be hilarious. Also, Shudderwock giving a random double Totemic Might 5/5 is going to be a highlight on Trolden =P

Edit:

Oh right, didn't see this mentioned either.

They've verified that Schemes have no limit outside of "physical" limits. So Hagatha's Scheme will keep growing each turn until it can take out the Ancient One ;)

Toggwaddle's Scheme:

1 mana Rogue Spell (Rare)

Choose a minion. Shuffle 1 copy of it into your deck.

(upgrades each turn!)

This seems like something that could quite possibly be broken, given all the draw options that Rogue has, including Myra's. Funny, the picture of the card includes a picture of Pogo Hoppers.

[Zevox]

7 mana do nothing is pretty tough, but I like the design, it can be hilarious. Also, Shudderwock giving a random double Totemic Might 5/5 is going to be a highlight on Trolden =P

Playing a 5/5 is not doing nothing. No immediate impact is what I think you mean though, which is fair, it's been rare to see anything that doesn't have immediate impact see play at 7+ mana. Still, card she gives you can pack quite a lot of immediate impact next turn, so it may work out. And yeah, I hadn't thought of it initially, but it does have some potential with Shudderwock too, even if you can't control what spells you'll get in that case.

Oh right, didn't see this mentioned either.

They've verified that Schemes have no limit outside of "physical" limits. So Hagatha's Scheme will keep growing each turn until it can take out the Ancient One ;)

Toggwaddle's Scheme:

1 mana Rogue Spell (Rare)

Choose a minion. Shuffle 1 copy of it into your deck.

(upgrades each turn!)

This seems like something that could quite possibly be broken, given all the draw options that Rogue has, including Myra's. Funny, the picture of the card includes a picture of Pogo Hoppers.

Hm, yeah, that seems like a card that's either going to be useless or enable something really crazy, with little in between. I half hope it does make Pogo Hoppers usable, if only because they're basically diet Jade, and I kind of miss those, but I'm skeptical at first glance. It's very slow, since you need to wait for it to power up, then need to wait to draw whatever it put into your deck.

I guess it means that the new Toggwaggle will be a Rogue legendary though, so that's good to know. Our five villains then are Shaman, Warrior, Priest, Rogue, and Warlock.

[Seerow]

So we've got 2 of 5 villains now, and both are 7. I find it hard to imagine they'll release a new Dr. Boom Minion who is not 7 mana as well. I am hoping all 5 are at 7 mana just because the symmetry makes me happy.


As far as the power level for Hagatha herself. it really depends on how Control Shaman pans out, and what other new spells we get. I am also kind of curious as to how Hagatha's Plot will work with the Horror. It'd be really sad if there's anti-synergy between Hagatha and her plot (where you discover the spell and get stuck with an AoE of 1). If a slow shaman deck exists this will be in it. And Shudderwock will be with it. And probably grumble too, for good measure. I've heard some musings about wild doing a Reno Shaman archetype with this and bran, and I think it has a chance of being good there, though I'm not sure it's really unfair enough to survive in Wild.


On Togwaggle's Plot, I really like it. I loved Pogo Rogue last expansion, but I gave up my dreams after the giggling nerf. This gives me an excuse to give it another shot. Though if Rogue is going to keep getting these mega value cards, it -desperately- needs some new defensive tools to really be viable. Give me one solid early game taunt, boardclear, or a big heal, and Rogue is looking much better. Though some other minion that you would want to duplicate besides pogos, so you're not relying on one being in the top half of your deck, would be great.

[Requizen]

So we've got 2 of 5 villains now, and both are 7. I find it hard to imagine they'll release a new Dr. Boom Minion who is not 7 mana as well. I am hoping all 5 are at 7 mana just because the symmetry makes me happy.

Imagine if they just reprinted Dr Boom as he was: 7/7, Summon 2 Boom Bots. The outcry would be delicious.

[Kish]

Imagine if they just reprinted Dr Boom as he was: 7/7, Summon 2 Boom Bots. The outcry would be delicious.

It's so bizarre to me when people post that they hope a game company does something ridiculously obnoxious because they like seeing other players unhappy that much.

[Rodin]

Honestly, I wouldn't care if they re-printed Dr. Boom as he was. He was OP at the time he was released, but in today's game I don't even know that he'd get played. A 7/7 without Taunt summoning two 1/1s with an unreliable Deathrattle simply isn't that impressive in a world where Hunter is playing an 8 mana 6/6 that summons an 8/8 with Charge from your deck, then Deathrattles into another 7/7 with Charge.

[Requizen]

New cards! Priest Epic, obviously good with Cabal/Pain:

Spoiler

Show

Hunter Legendary, obviously good with... nothing atm:

Spoiler

Show

[Resileaf]

At first I had misread the priest card to "Reduce attack to 1 for the next turn" so I thought the upgrade would be like if it spent more time reduced, but then I read it better. It does seem pretty interesting, can cheaply let you steal just about anything.

Lots of mechs have deathrattles, but it does seem like it would be difficult to work out well with the current crop of mechs.
In wild though... Use it to summon Sneed's old shredder for instant two legendaries.

It's stats hurt a little though.

[Requizen]

At first I had misread the priest card to "Reduce attack to 1 for the next turn" so I thought the upgrade would be like if it spent more time reduced, but then I read it better. It does seem pretty interesting, can cheaply let you steal just about anything.

Lots of mechs have deathrattles, but it does seem like it would be difficult to work out well with the current crop of mechs.
In wild though... Use it to summon Sneed's old shredder for instant two legendaries.

It's stats hurt a little though.

I hope they're being hesitant to give anything that summons cards from your hand/deck good stats. We saw how that worked out with Kathrena, and while she wasn't an auto-include in every Hunter deck, she was really, really strong with a big statline and summoning more big stuff. If there are solid Mechs in the set (which there should be with Dr Boom as a character), we should see some reasonable use out of it.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I hope they're being hesitant to give anything that summons cards from your hand/deck good stats. We saw how that worked out with Kathrena, and while she wasn't an auto-include in every Hunter deck, she was really, really strong with a big statline and summoning more big stuff. If there are solid Mechs in the set (which there should be with Dr Boom as a character), we should see some reasonable use out of it.

Imagine hitting Spider-Bomb out of this.

[Rynjin]

Honestly, I wouldn't care if they re-printed Dr. Boom as he was. He was OP at the time he was released, but in today's game I don't even know that he'd get played. A 7/7 without Taunt summoning two 1/1s with an unreliable Deathrattle simply isn't that impressive in a world where Hunter is playing an 8 mana 6/6 that summons an 8/8 with Charge from your deck, then Deathrattles into another 7/7 with Charge.

Literally all of those cards are rotating.

[Resileaf]

Imagine hitting Spider-Bomb out of this.

I'd say that the main problem with that is that it might summon Spider-bomb on an empty board, which could make things a little wasteful.

[Requizen]

I'd say that the main problem with that is that it might summon Spider-bomb on an empty board, which could make things a little wasteful.

Hm, I suppose you'd try to set it up so there's only one other mech in your hand at the time.

The only mechs rotating are Scorp-o-matic and Meat Wagon, so just out of the things that are currently available to be summoned with this, there's actually a few ok cards. Spiderbomb for kill, Spark Drill for trading, Mechanical Whelp for big buddy, Goblin Bomb for some extra face punch, Weaponized Pinata for RNG-fest.

How much focus would you have to put on proccing a Deathrattle for this to be worth it, though? Summoning a Damaged Stegotron could get you a solid body without taking the damage, which is nice (kind of like using Kathrena + Witchwood Grizzly), and hitting Zilliax or Clockwork Automoton with it is just getting extra stats/body on the board. Obviously not excellent use of the card, but it makes it reasonable to play on tempo even without requiring a proper Deathrattle Mech setup.

[Resileaf]

Hm, I suppose you'd try to set it up so there's only one other mech in your hand at the time.

The only mechs rotating are Scorp-o-matic and Meat Wagon, so just out of the things that are currently available to be summoned with this, there's actually a few ok cards. Spiderbomb for kill, Spark Drill for trading, Mechanical Whelp for big buddy, Goblin Bomb for some extra face punch, Weaponized Pinata for RNG-fest.

How much focus would you have to put on proccing a Deathrattle for this to be worth it, though? Summoning a Damaged Stegotron could get you a solid body without taking the damage, which is nice (kind of like using Kathrena + Witchwood Grizzly), and hitting Zilliax or Clockwork Automoton with it is just getting extra stats/body on the board. Obviously not excellent use of the card, but it makes it reasonable to play on tempo even without requiring a proper Deathrattle Mech setup.

That's true. It's good to see what you can get without a deathrattle, and a strong, expensive mech is equally useful as a cheaper one with a potentially useful deathrattle.
Mechanical whelp is probably one of the best choices though.

[Rodin]

Literally all of those cards are rotating.

Thaaaaat....wasn't my point.

Kathrena shenanigans are just an example of something that wasn't even particularly OP in today's meta that cause the old Dr. Boom to look like a chump. While the power level will likely drop a fair bit with the absurdly OP set trio gone, that doesn't change the fact that power creep has happened over the 5 years since Goblins v. Gnomes was released. In today's game, he might fit the sort of "powerful filler card" role that the Lich King played, but as a 7 mana card that doesn't immediately impact the board he seems far less appealing in the age of Jan'alai.

[Rynjin]

Thaaaaat....wasn't my point.

Kathrena shenanigans are just an example of something that wasn't even particularly OP in today's meta that cause the old Dr. Boom to look like a chump. While the power level will likely drop a fair bit with the absurdly OP set trio gone, that doesn't change the fact that power creep has happened over the 5 years since Goblins v. Gnomes was released. In today's game, he might fit the sort of "powerful filler card" role that the Lich King played, but as a 7 mana card that doesn't immediately impact the board he seems far less appealing in the age of Jan'alai.

The power level is going to drop more than "a fair bit". Value is now relevant again, which should presumably drag Control decks back from the pit all these infinite value and stupid annoying combo decks threw it into.

Having a card that has a good statline and a bit of board control is going to be something you look for again now. Particularly if Control Warrior rises from the ashes to become the mighty phoenix once again.

[Zevox]

Random thing I didn't think of that Trump pointed out in a recent video: Shudderwock doesn't just work with the new Hagatha by giving you an extra Horror, it will also copy your first Horror's spells. That's pretty darn potent, depending on what you picked.

It's so bizarre to me when people post that they hope a game company does something ridiculously obnoxious because they like seeing other players unhappy that much.

Ditto. (Although I don't think that reprinting Boom as he was would be obnoxious. It'd be weird, but I'd probably be fairly okay with it, I liked him.)

Honestly, I wouldn't care if they re-printed Dr. Boom as he was. He was OP at the time he was released, but in today's game I don't even know that he'd get played. A 7/7 without Taunt summoning two 1/1s with an unreliable Deathrattle simply isn't that impressive in a world where Hunter is playing an 8 mana 6/6 that summons an 8/8 with Charge from your deck, then Deathrattles into another 7/7 with Charge.

That won't be the world we'll be in though. Kathrena is going to be gone, along with pretty much everything else that defines the current meta. This rotation might be the most significant power downgrade we've ever seen, as most current meta decks are heavily defined by Year of the Mammoth cards, Baku and Gen, or both. I think it's probably wrong to assume that we'll be at a power level where Doctor Boom wouldn't be pretty good as he was.

New cards! Priest Epic, obviously good with Cabal/Pain:

Spoiler

Show

Hunter Legendary, obviously good with... nothing atm:

Spoiler

Show

Lazul's Scheme does seems like it might have potential, given the other cards it can combine with, definitely. Heck, it's not even that bad once its upgraded only once. Plus, it is a 0 mana spell, always have to watch out for those.

Oblivitron, well, the only thing that came to mind for that at first was Spider Bomb, which seems iffy in usefulness to me, but Mechanical Whelp and Damaged Stegotron as Requizen suggested do give it at least a couple of more genuinely quite good targets. Could wind up seeing some play with those I think, though only if a deck involving that combo comes together, since at the moment the only current Hunter deck that may survive the rotation is Midrange Beast Hunter, which won't run non-beasts since they ruin Master's Call.