Please make sure to check back daily! We’re going to keep up with the spoilers as much as we possibly can! We’re going to be seeing some truly outrageous cards in the spoilers for Hearthstone’s Madness at the Darkmoon Faire! After all, the Old Gods are back, and they can tap into unprecedented power it seems. So far we’ve seen just a handful of cards, but we have seen all of the Old Gods, which are interestingly enough, all Neutral. I was sort of curious to see if they would be attached to the various classes.

It appears for now that cross-class cards are not coming to this expansion. That was probably just a trait for the Academy expansion. Something I hypothesized as interesting would be to have the Old Gods take control of a Hero role, much like Galakrond. After all, who really controls the Old Gods? Looks like we’ll have several cards themed after Faire events and a brand-new version of Silas Darkmoon. Without further ado, let’s look at some of these Darkmoon Faire spoilers for Hearthstone!

The spoiler season officially kicks off on Nov. 3, so make sure to check in daily to get the latest!

Felscream Blast (Spell, 1-Cost): For 1 mana, you get a lot of value out of a Lifesteal spell. It deals 1 damage to a minion and its neighbors, totaling potentially 3 damage. That’s 3 life back for 1 mana for almost nothing. All we need now are some Neutral +Spell Damage minions (well, more of them). If we can make that happen, Felscream Blast is going to be a pretty solid card. 

Renowned Performer (4-Cost Minion): A 3/3 Rush for 4? Sounds like this was just meant to fade away early. It does bring value in life and in death. In life, we cast it to eliminate a decent-sized threat, and when this creature dies, it triggers Deathrattle: Summon two 1/1 Assistants with Taunt. That way the other player has to work through those to hope to deal you any damage. Sure, they’re weak, but there are plenty of Demon Hunter decks that rely heavily on our allies perishing again and again. (Token Demon Hunter, hello!)

Insatiable Felhound (3-Cost Minion – Demon): Are you kidding me? This is amazing as a Common! Even without making it go Corrupt, a ⅖ Taunt for 3 mana is a bargain. However, if you corrupt it, it gains +1/+1 and Lifesteal. Remember all that sweet Lifesteal stuff we have? How it can become damage for the enemy Hero? Now you probably see how amazing this card is. At 3 mana, it’s an absolute steal. I fear it might catch a nerf though. 

Relentless Pursuit (3-Cost Spell): Remember earlier this week, we were talking about “getting the Demon Hunter to 6 or more attack) so we can cast Bladed Lady for 1 mana? Between this and Dreadlord’s Bite, we can do that with 6 mana total. So we’ll get 6 damage/Immune for a turn, and for another 1 mana, get a minion that’s a 6/6 Rush. Relentless Pursuit gives your Hero +4 Attack for the turn and Immune. It’s a free shot of 4 damage at anything. Then we combine it with the new Dreadlord’s Bite weapon.

Dreadlord’s Bite (3-Cost Equipment – Weapon): Ideally, we want this to be Outcast too. Preferably if we’re running a deck that has Line Hopper (Your Outcast cards cost 1 less) and Redeemed Pariah (After you play an Outcast card, gain +1/+1). If this is an Outcast card (Left/Right-most card in your hand), it deals 1 damage to all enemies. On its own, it’s a 3/2 Weapon. When paired with Relentless Pursuit, we now have 7 damage, without any other buffs we might have. It’s definitely an interesting card.

Acrobatics (3-Cost Spell): I have a hard time feeling like this will be useful unless we have a ton of low-cost cards in the deck. At least it’s a draw 2 for 3, which is by itself, pretty good. But if you play both of those cards this turn, you draw 2 more. So it’s really valuable if you can drop some 0/1 cost cards right away, to get even more value out of the deck. 

Bladed Lady (6-Cost Minion – Demon): Do you know how easy it is to get +6 Attack on a Demon Hunter? We’ve already dropped a spoiler that puts you over halfway there (Stiltstepper). Normally, this is a 6/6 Rush for 6, which is… well, it’s okay. Not the best, but it’s a mighty beatstick. However, if your Hero has 6 or more Attack, this creature comes into play for (1) Mana. That’s right, you can drop a 6/6 for 1 and immediately rush it down on some poor schmuck. Just equip a weapon, drop Stiltstepper, and you’re more or less set to go to someone’s face with the Hero, and to a minion’s with Bladed Lady. I would love to see Zai, the Incredible get this on the Left/Right side of your hand. Wouldn’t it be something to have one on both sides of your hand? Drop 4 6/6s in one turn! If they live until your next turn, you’re going to hammer someone’s brains in with Demons. Even if you drop this on the curve, it’s good, but if you drop it on the curve for 1 Mana? That’s great.

Throw Glaive (1-Cost Spell): This is going to be money in the mid-late game. Even better if you can combine it with a Pen Flinger. Pen Flinger’s Spellburst returns it to your hand. And Throw Glaive makes a temporary copy of itself in your hand if it kills a minion. So you can combine these two to deal 3 damage for 2 over and over until you’re out of mana/out of things to target. It’s pretty sick all on its own, but still can do a lot of good to clear out swarms of jerks.

Expendable Performers (7-Cost Spell): Looking to rush down the other players board, but want your (and their) minions to die in the process? Look no further than Expendable Performers, which costs a whopping 7 mana. You get more than your money on this card though. You want an empty board when you cast it though. Casting this summons 7 1/1 Illidari with Rush. If they all die this turn, summon 7 more! This will be a solid fit for Token Demon Hunter, but we want some way to supplement their power if at all possible. Scratch that, we want one minion on the board: Wrathscale Naga. That way, when an allied unit dies, we hit a random enemy for 3 damage. You can also use this with Feast of Souls to draw a card for each ally that dies. Now, with Wrathscale Naga out, you may not get the second set of 7, but it would still be very useful to get potential 3-drops on the enemy’s face.

Stiltstepper (3-Cost Minion): Stiltstepper has the potential to set up game-winning bombs, but other than that, I think it’s mediocre at best. This is a 4/1 for 3, and when it deploys, it triggers the following Battlecry: Draw a card. If you play it this turn, give your Hero +4 Attack this turn. This is not going to be a card we really want to drop early. If we can’t play the card, we waste half of this card. We also don’t want to draw anything that costs more than 7 mana, at the absolute most (if we’re playing this post-turn-10). The idea here is that we’ll already want a weapon equipped, and any buffs ready to go. That way we can draw a card, hopefully, one that buffs our Demon Hunter a little more, and then swing lethal. If we also have Il’gynoth out already and Lifesteal on our Demon Hunter, that could be a serious mountain of damage. It will be fun in Arena, but I can see uses for it as a mid-late game way to seal up a game.

Felsteel Executioner (3-Cost Minion/Equipment – Elemental): Now this promises to be a very powerful card for Demon Hunter. It will be especially powerful as cards rotate out and Demon Hunter needs more equipment. Some might think this is mediocre, but I don’t agree. In the early game, this is a useful creature, as a 4/3. Or you can choose to Corrupt it, by casting something that costs more than 3 mana, while this is in your hand. If you do this, Felsteel Executioner becomes a piece of equipment instead! Then you get a 4/3 Weapon for 3 mana! Honestly? That’s amazing. In the mid-to-late game, you don’t want as many creatures with that stat line. You want bigger creatures or more useful creatures. So instead, you use this as a weapon and start abusing any of our other creatures that synergize with having a decent attack on our Hero.

Il’gynoth (4-Cost Minion): Oh boy, this could be absolutely filthy. I can see this being a near-requirement for Demon Hunter decks going forward. It’s a 2/6 for 4 that also has Lifesteal. That’s okay I suppose, but it also makes all of your Lifesteal hits damage the enemy Hero instead of healing you. So you don’t gain life, but the other player essentially takes damage no matter what. If your attacker gets blocked by enemies and you lifesteal, it looks like it will still hit them, and double-up if it’s an attack to the enemy face. There’s a lot of possibility for destruction and hurt feelings with Il’gynoth. Looks like we will have Gods (or at least their minions) for each faction, since Il’gynoth is the Heart of Corruption, a part of the Emerald Nightmare. 

“The king of diamonds has been made a pawn.”

Zai, the Incredible (5-Cost Minion): Did Team Secret’s Zai get his own card? That’d be weird, as he’s a Dota 2 player, but it’s still a sort of interesting thing to pop up. Zai, the Incredible has the potential to do some truly terrifying things; but conversely, it can also be an absolute dud, depending on when you cast him. This is a card that requires very sharp hand management skills. Why? This 5/3 for 5 will copy the Left/Right-most cards in your hand. So you could get two Altruis and two Il’gynoth. If you’re running Old Ones (Neutral Legendary Gods), you could very easily get a pair of them to cast back to back in the right situations. Just make sure at least one of the duplicated cards is something you want more of. Legendaries are probably the best pick for that or spells that can seal the opponent’s doom. So far, Il’gynoth is one of my favorites, since we can hold the second back until the first dies, and get that much more free damage from our Lifesteal. This would also be amazing with one of our new Demons, Bladed Lady. We just talked about her, so you’ll be able to see why! Two 6/6 demons with Rush that somehow now cost 1 mana? Oof.

Umbral Owl (7-Cost Minion – Beast): In theory, this is very good. A 4/4 Rush that costs 1 less for every spell you’ve cast this game? However, you have to wait to play it, so that sort of devalues it a little for me. Its baseline mana is 7, so you have to cast at least 3 spells to make it an even trade, more if you want to really drop it for cheap. However, I do worry this will wind up not being worthwhile. You could use this as corrupt bait though, to cast cards like Moontouched Amulet. You could put this card at just the right cost to Corrupt spells in your hand, and distract players from what you’re really after. But still, it’s OK.

Moontouched Amulet (3-Cost Spell): This, however, is a great card if you Corrupt it. It’s already solid regardless, as it’s 4 Attack power for 3 mana. But if it comes out as a Corrupt spell, you also gain 6 Armor. Pair this with Cenarion Ward in the late game to be an unstoppable tanking machine. It’s a solid card even if you cast it before Corruption, but it’s much better afterward. I’m hoping this Corrupt mechanic makes the game slow down a bit, shifting to a more late-game meta. But we’ll see.

Guess the Weight (2-Cost Spell): Oh boy, this could be a lot of fun! If you know well what the average card costs in your deck, you can get some serious value. For 2 mana, you draw a card. Then you guess if the next card costs more or less to draw it. If you pull a huge card, you can easily guess if the next card is lower cost, and vice versa if you draw a 0-cost card. That way, you know almost certainly going to be cheaper. Plus low-cost card draw in Druid? You love to see it (unless you don’t run Druid, I guess).

Kiri, Chosen of Elune (Minion, 2-Cost): Kiri, Chosen of Elune is going to be paired with Kael’thas Sunstrider, I can see it now. Overall, a 2/2 for 4 isn’t really that great. In fact, it’s awful. But this card’s Battlecry is nothing to sneeze at. You add a Solar Eclipse and a Lunar Eclipse card in your hand. Solar Eclipse is a 2-cost Spell that makes your next spell this turn cast twice. Lunar Eclipse is a 2-cost Spell also and deals 3 damage to a minion. On top, your next spell costs 2-less this turn.

So you Lunar Eclipse, Solar Eclipse, and then drop whatever combo card you need for Kael’thas, and double it! That could be amazing with some of the Druid buff spells. I really like Kiri as a Legendary, thanks to that. 

Open the Cages (2-Cost Spell): A solid Secret for Hunter. This Secret triggers at the start of your turn. If you have two minions, you also summon an ANimal Companion. It’s pretty neat, and would be better coming from Mystery Winner, which is a common 1-cost minion. That minion has you Discover a Secret. So we drop this turn 1, turn 2 Mystery Winner. It’s only a matter of time before we play another minion to trigger this.

Dancing Cobra (2-Cost Minion – Beast): Speaking of minions we want to buff, Dancing Cobra, step on up! On its own, Dancing Cobra is a ⅕ for 2, so not too shabby. But if it wait and Corrupt it first, it also gains Poisonous. If we pair this with Don’t Feed the Animals and it gets the +2/+2, now it’s a 3/7 Poisonous. How monstrous is that?

Darkmoon Tonk (7-Cost Minion – Mech): At first glance, this is a kind of weird card. An 8/5 for 7, with Deathrattle. However, if there are more Mechs/More Deathrattle support added for Hunter, this could be deadly. In Wild Format, this could be amazing with Oblivitron. However, for Standard, it will go well if we pull it as a result of casting Maxima Blastenheimer. That would mean we hit the enemy player for 8, and then it dies. The Deathrattle fires 4 missiles that deal 2 damage to random enemies. If the enemy players board is empty, this could just hit someone for 12, since I believe the player counts for “random Enemy”. So while I don’t think this card is wildly overpowered, I like the concept. This could lead to some interesting mid-range/combo Hunter decks for Standard. It will certainly see picks in Arena as a way to control the board though.

Petting Zoo (3-Cost Spell): If you’re running Hunter Secret, and have a fairly empty board, you can do terrifying things with Petting Zoo. For 3 mana, you get at least 1 3/3 Strider. However, this spell repeats for every Secret you control. So you flood the board early/mid-game with Secrets and cast this. Even getting one Secret in your employ means you’ll have 6 points of damage on at least that cast. You could potentially get way more. I love this card, and I think you can do a mighty amount with it. I’d like to see someone cast this and follow up with Emerald Spellstone for maximum hilarity (RE: damage).

Trampling Rhino (5-Cost Minion – Beast): All around a solid card. Even better if we can use stuff like Don’t Feed the Animals, to turn this into a 7/7. This is a card we want to find ways to boost. Because this is a 5/5 for 5 (base) with Rush. After this attacks/kills a minion, the excess damage goes through to the enemy Hero, just like Trample in MTG Arena. The bigger this is, and the harder it hits a weak minion, the better, if you ask me.

Don’t Feed the Animals (2-Cost Spell): So, I’m torn on Don’t Feed the Animals. Ideally, it’s a neat card, even at 2 mana. For 2 mana, you give all Beasts in your hand +1/+1. But if you cast a more expensive spell first, it Corrupts and grants those Beasts in hand +2/+2 instead. Some have said this is a worthless card, but I don’t really think it is. I think there’s just some kind of mysterious stigma about Corrupt, and I don’t get it. I like the possibility this card represents, but I do sort of wonder if it’s going to be a very niche’ pick. If you don’t have at least one (preferably more) Beasts in hand already, it’s a fairly useless card. I’m going to keep my eye on it though.

Maxima Blastenheimer (6-Cost Minion): In a big-minion only deck this could be hilariously powerful. In fact, it goes amazingly well with the next card of today (Darkmoon Tonk) if it’s what’s pulled. This is a 4/4 for 6 with an amazing Battlecry. Summon a minion from your deck. It attacks the enemy hero, then dies. If you’re running a big-boy/deathrattle deck, it’s going to be very annoying. At the moment, I don’t know that there are enough Deathrattle cards in Hunter to really make this a must-use, but we’ve got a lot of cards to go. There’s no telling what else will show up. If you could run Spell Hunter, and just include certain minions, it might work. That sounds a bit janky. We’ll come back to this fair lady.

Rinling’s Rifle (4-Cost Equipment – Weapon): Honestly, I’m torn on this one. For 4 mana, I think it should have a little more oomph in the Damage/Durability. After your hero attacks with this, Discover a Secret and cast it. Now, in Highlander decks, I really like the concept. You could get some of your Secrets more than once in a deck that only has one copy of each card. The 2 Durability hurts, and as a Legendary, you can’t use this more than that two times total. It’s interesting, and I don’t hate it, but I don’t know if it’s going to be a must-use in any Hunter decks other than Highlander. Now, it could synergize well with Petting Zoo, since it triggers again for each Secret you control. It could also help with Corrupt cards since you trigger/cast spells that you don’t necessarily have in your hand. Since this card specifies that you Cast the Secret in question, it should count for Corrupt. Corrupt only states that you have to cast a higher-cost card. So it could help with Don’t Feed the Animals and Horrendous Growth, if you’re using that too. There’s a lot of possibilities, I just want to see all the potential Secrets that could be going into a deck.

Firework Elemental (5-Cost Minion – Elemental): Dealing 3 damage to a minion when it’s cast is pretty neat (especially for a ⅗), but if you wait until it’s corrupted, this is a God-killer. If this casts as a Corrupt spell, it deals 12 damage instead! That can kill just about any minion you need it to.

Confection Cyclone (2-Cost Minion – Elemental): This is probably going to be what we want to use to make the most of our Grand Finale. Confection Cyclone is a 3/2 for 2 and adds 2 ½ Elementals to your hand when you cast it. Elemental Mage is back! You could drop all of these in one turn, maybe another Elemental, kill them off, and on the next turn cast Grand Finale and instead have 5 or so 8/8 ELementals. Ka. Boom.

Ring Toss (4-Cost Spell): This would be pretty interesting with cross-class skills/spells, that’s for sure. For 4 mana, you Discover a Secret and cast it. But, if this is a Corrupt spell (you cast a spell that costs more while this is in your hand), you Discover 2 instead! I wonder how difficult it will be to cast it as a Corrupt card in a Secret Mage deck. Even without being focused on Secrets, I can see this being used to get extra cards to play around with. It could be fun with Y’Shaarj, the Defiler just to have even more stuff to do in the late game. Not a bad card, for sure.

Alongside Rigged Faire Game comes another card built for Mage Secret decks. This could be one of the more entertaining spoilers for Hearthstone’s Madness at the Darkmoon Faire. Is it overpowered? No, probably not. But could this be a very useful turn-4 move? Absolutely. So we have a 4/4 for 4 with Battlecry here. If you control a Secret when you cast this, then summon another copy of this card. So if you played that Rigged Faire Game on turn 3 and it hasn’t popped, you get two 4/4s for a measly 4 mana. That’s not really a bad deal if you ask us.

Mask of C’Thun (7-Cost Spell): With +Spell Damage on the board, this is going to be beefy. On its own, it’s pretty neat, and the more it can trigger on the enemy Hero, the better. This deals 10 damage randomly split among all enemies. This has the potential to deal serious damage and wipe boards, but we’ll have to see if it’s good enough, what with it costing 7 mana and all. It’s interesting to note high costs now because it seriously helps Corrupt spells happen. So on the other hand, this could be in decks.

Rigged Faire Game (3-Cost Spell): Just revealed by 1segani on Twitter as I was hitting save on this article, we have a new Secret spell for Mage! We were wondering after all, if they’d get more to fit with the current reveals. Rigged Faire Game’s Secret is “If you didn’t take any damage during your opponent’s turn, draw 3 cards. This could be really great with Ring Toss, that’s for sure. Even if it’s not in your deck, you could still land this Rigged card! This doesn’t have to take place this turn either. Whether it’s this turn or a few turns down the road, landing a 3-card draw, and potentially getting it again with Ring Toss, this is going to be very very mean.

Grand Finals (8-Cost Spell): Oh boy, Elementals! Oh boy, a lot of Elementals! Grand Finals is almost assuredly going to give you several minions that are nice and beefy for the late game. This summons an 8/8 Elemental, and repeats for each Elemental you played last turn. With new Elementals like Firework Elemental and Confection Cyclone, or simply dropping the Sugar Elementals, you can get more than enough 8/8s. Thank God they don’t have Taunt, yeah? If we can find some nice, cheap, one-turn-use Elementals, this could go off with a major bang.

Day at the Faire (Spell, 3-Cost): Our first Corrupted card for the Darkmoon Faire spoilers in Hearthstone, and it’s a doozy! If you cast a card that costs more than this, before Day at the Faire, it upgrades. Normally, this is a 3-cost spell that gives you 3 Silver Hand recruits on the battlefield. But if you cast the Corrupted version, it summons 5 Silver Hand recruits! I can see Odd Paladin try to run it. Frankly, a board of units is going to be pretty great to counter the minion rush archetypes. We just need some way to make them a little beefier. It could certainly be a good card, but we need to see what else Paladin has on offer.

Carousel Gryphon (5-Cost Minion – Mech): Anyone who says this is a bad card is a fool of the highest caliber. I wouldn’t be shocked if this took a little nerf later on. So, let’s talk about this one. As a Common, a 5/5 for 5 is not bad. But this is a 5/5 for 5 with Divine Shield and Corrupt. This feels a bit power-creepy, but maybe Paladin needs that right now. If you cast another spell before this that costs more, it upgrades in your hand, receiving +3/+3 and Taunt. At face value, a 5/5 Divine Shield for 5 is already incredibly valuable. But an 8/8 Taunt/Divine Shield for FIVE?! So what if you have to wait an extra turn to cast it?! It’s going to be worth it even on turn 6 or 7 to play this bad boy. I can’t wait to see this common card just bursting people into treats.

Balloon Merchant (4-Cost Minion): When I originally saw Day at the Faire, I immediately thought we’d see some kind of buff for Silver Hand Recruits. Between it cranking out more of them, and the innate Paladin ability to make them as a Hero Power, they still need a little more chutzpah. Balloon Merchant’s Battlecry gives your Silver Hand Recruits +1 Attack and Divine Shield, offering just the buff those good soldiers needed. Now they can be aggressive without immediately dying. Then you can cast another Balloon Merchant to give them Divine Shield back, and another +1 Attack! It’s not listed as a “Until end of turn” trigger, so the Attack Points likely stick around. Suddenly, your wave of little 2/2s aren’t so easily dismissable. Now if only we could give them Rush. . .I don’t know that “Dude-adin” is suddenly going to be a viable deck, but it could be. I wish we didn’t have so many “wait and sees”, but I really like this card, that having been said. I’d still consider including Dude-adin cards in other decks as ways to be aggressive without sacrificing important cards.

High Exarch Yrel (8-Cost Minion): Wow. That deserved bolt print. Wow. Pure Paladin is back in a really serious way. For 8 mana, this 7/5 does an absolute boatload. She has a Battlecry that triggers if your deck has no Neutral cards in it. If so, she gains Rush, Lifesteal, Taunt, Divine Shield. So she heals you for 7 (minimum), deletes a minion, takes no damage in the process, and has Taunt, so she has to be attacked before the other player can strike your lifepoints (except Demon Hunters, I guess). Pure Paladin has plenty of support for this particular Legendary, so she’s an absolute must-include in the deck. Use this, and batter people’s faces inside out. It’s a beautiful way to start the day, with High Exarch Yrel. All the Silver Hand generation/buffing is going to help that deck too, I think. Balloon Merchant/Day at the Faire could be a lot of fun in that deck.

Lothraxion the Redeemed (5-Cost Minion – Demon): A Demon in Paladin? Well, he is Redeemed, after all. I’m surprised there haven’t been more Demons in Paladins thanks to the Scarlet Crusade, but maybe they were more warriors. Either way, we’ve got a new Darkmoon Faire legendary, courtesy of one of the South Korean Hearthstone players. This is going to be a powerhouse in Odd Paladin (Paladin decks with only odd-cost cards). For all those people that wondered if Silver Hand Recruits were going to be worth anything, Lothraxion the Redeemed may be just the thing the Dude-adin deck needs. This is a 5/5 for 5, and when it enters the battlefield, its Battlecry gives an ability for the remainder of the game. For the rest of the game, after you summon a Silver Hand Recruit, give it Divine Shield. At 5 mana, it should come into play hopefully before the Balloon Merchant. If you can time that right, you can give your Recruits in play a double-dose of Divine Shield, to keep them around just a bit longer (the +1 Attack doesn’t hurt either). I’m a pretty big fan of Lothraxion the Redeemed as Paladin stands right now. We’ll have to see if they just force Paladins to play Dude-adin (Silver Hand Recruit deck), but this would also fit neatly into Pure Paladin/Odd Paladin potentially. Overall, it’s a very good card (™).

Hammer of the Naaru (6-Cost Equipment – Weapon): I don’t think this is such a bad piece of equipment for Paladins, but I can see the Internet at Large (™) disagreeing. It’s a 3/3 weapon (Attack/Durability) for 6 mana. However, upon casting it, you summon a 6/6 Holy Elemental with Taunt. I don’t know if it’s going to be a game-breaker, but having a sudden 6/6 with Taunt can be frustrating to deal with. This makes me wonder if we’re going to get more cards that synergize well with equipment for Paladins. Right now, I don’t think there are many. It is however worth putting 1 or 2 in a deck just to have a couple of extra tanks for your shenanigans. It might be fun in the Libram decks to use the various tools at your disposal to buff this creature. I think it’s good, but until I see more, it’s not great.

Fortune Teller (Minion – Mech, 5-Cost): Galakrond Control decks can 100% use this. Or any other Priest deck that uses a lot of card draw (but that one’s the best for it, imo).

Otherwise, it’s a 3/3 for 5 with Taunt/Battlecry. When the Fortune Teller comes into play, it gains +1/+1 for each spell in your hand. This could easily come in as a 10/10 Taunt, for 5 mana.

Boy, I love the concept of this card. It just makes me want to watch Tom Hanks in Big. Is that the inspiration behind it? I’d certainly be willing to believe it.

Palm Reading (3-Cost Spell): Here’s a really fun spell for Priest to make our cards cost less! Palm Reading has you Discover a spell, and reduce the cost of all spells in your hand by 1 mana. Between this and some other cards we have access to, we can make Insight cost 0, thus making it infinitely easier to Corrupt. That’s what’s going to make Corrupt decks powerful; ones that have access to cost reduction. Priest has it in spades.

Blood of G’huun (9-Cost Minion – Elemental): An 8/8 Taunt for 9? This is going to be an immediate target, because of what its Passive is. At the end of your turn, you summon a 5/5 copy of a minion from your deck. Just imagine pulling a 5/5 version of G’huun! Or perhaps one of the neutral Old Gods! Plus again, an 8/8 Taunt. 

The Nameless One (4-Cost Minion): The Nameless One is the first Legendary Priest minion we’ve seen so far. I really like the idea of it, in theory. My problem with it was that the text confused me. However, reading it back, I love this card. This 4/4 for 4 has a Battlecry that makes you choose a minion. The Nameless One becomes a 4/4 copy of it, and then you Silence the original minion. So if your opponent has an awesome creature that you want one of, you can silence theirs and make your own. You can also do it to your minions, but I feel like it’s much more powerful when you Silence the enemy minion instead. Whether you want to copy a creature to trigger another Battlecry ability for you (or your opponent) or simply deny the other player a Deathrattle/etc trigger, The Nameless One brings value at 4 mana, for any time of the game. 

G’huun the Blood God (8-Cost Minion): What a terrifyingly powerful card G’huun the Blood God is, but that’s not a surprise. This could also be pulled by Idol of Y’Shaarj cheaper than normal, which is pretty terrifying. You could also get a 5/5 copy of this from Blood of G’huun. Honestly, Priest is shaping up to be wild in this upcoming meta. G’huun the Blood God has a Battlecry that makes you draw 2 cards. These cost Health instead of Mana. You can do so much with this, and the more life your have (easy with a Priest) is going to speed up whatever win condition you have. Heck, if you draw this from Insight, you could cast it for 6 instead of 8.

Fluffy Fairegoer (1-Cost Minion – Pirate): Wow, this card has the potential to be great! In a Rogue Combo deck, this could very easily finish off almost any minion you desire. It’s a 2/1 Pirate for 1, with Combo. If you’ve cast at least 1 spell this turn before playing the Fairegoer, you deal damage equal to the number of other cards you’ve played this turn to a minion. Thank God this doesn’t hit a player, right? This is a great way to deal with something you don’t want to fight mono a mono. Instead, you set up a combo to deal the right amount of damage, drop the Fluffy Fairegoer, and laugh as whatever threat your opponent just played disappears into the graveyard.

Ticket Master (3-Cost Minion): This is not one of the key, god-tier Rogue cards. It can do some interesting things this can pull. When you draw special cards like Tickets or Souls or whatever, you tend to draw your regular card too. So this is a 4/3 for 3 and has Deathrattle. You then shuffle three Tickets into your deck; when a Ticket is drawn, you summon a 3/3 Teddy Bear. So this is okay. If you have ways to draw more cards faster, or to get to these Tickets somewhere down the line it could be powerful. I think this is kind of a slow card, which sort of belies the speed and power Rogue decks need/want. I want to see more of what Rogues/Neutrals can do before I pass judgment.

Grand Empress Shek’zara (6-Cost Minion): In theory, this could be very good. In practice, it feels too chaotic and RNG-heavy for my personal tastes. Many Discover cards are like, but Grand Empress Shek’zara more than most. What’s she do? As a 5/7 for 6, her stats are solid. But her Battlecry has you Discover a card in your deck, and then draw all copies of it. If you pull a legendary, you only get one card of course. But if you’ve been stockpiling those Plush Bear cards through Ticket Master, you could get 6 3/3 for 3 cards in your hand. This would in turn thin out your deck to make sure you’re mostly pulling useful stuff, instead of these Plush Bears. They’re okay, sure, but you want to be pulling good cards, not blank bears. So I think the Empress could do some really neat stuff, but I don’t know how important she’s going to be to the overall Rogue meta. Could do well in Miracle Rogue I suppose. For people who have better RNG luck than me, this could be an overwhelming card. For me, it’s mediocre at best.

Malevolent Strike (5-Cost Spell): Okay, now we have some uses for cards like Ticket Master. Shame we can’t put Ysera, Unleashed in this deck too. Regardless, Malevolent Strike costs 1 mana less for each card in your deck that did not start there. So if we can drop a pair of Ticket Master cards and not pick any of the Plush Bears, we can cast this spell for 0 mana. That would be amazing if you used it as a Combo card. Play a 0-cost spell, and play your important Combo card after. However, what does this spell do? For 5 (or less) mana, Destroy a minion. Nice and simple! Zap a minion into pieces! It’s a good thing this game doesn’t have Instant spells that can be cast on your opponent’s turn. This would be wildly disruptive. It’s a good card, but does Rogue truthfully need a bunch of removal cards? This card will be useful/useless, depending on how the meta shakes up over the next month or so. I’d like to see it used because it’s a cool way to tie in cards like Ticket Master, but it makes that gimmick of putting cards into your deck feel a trifle forced.

Dunk Tank (Spell, 4-Cost): Good lord this card is amazing! It’s our next Corrupt card, and you definitely want to wait until it’s powered up. This card deals 4 damage to a target for 4 mana, and if it’s Corrupted, it then deals 2 damage to each enemy minion! So you can hit a big minion and then board wipe them. Conversely, if they are all weak minions, just zap the other player in the face for 4, and clear their board. From there, you should be able to just hit the other player in the face with minions. Dunk Tank is a very good rare if you ask me. 

Fluffy Whispers (1-Cost Spell):  More and more, Zoolock gets more cards to be useful. Fluffy Whispers can very quite a powerful card, especially for its 1-mana cost. This spell has you Discard your lowest-Cost card. In exchange, your minions gain +1/+1. This doesn’t specify minions in hand, so it looks like it’s going to buff your board for the minor cost of discarding your lowest-cost card. Hopefully, it will be something you need/want to be discarded. All told, I love this card, as I think it will be a very powerful tool in the Warlock’s kit going forward. 

Fire Breather (4-Cost Minion – Demon): We’ve got another demon, unsurprisingly, for Warlocks! This is a good one, though, in my opinion. A 4/3 Demon for 4 that deals 2 damage to all minions, except Demons when it comes into play. Now, if you’re playing a mirror match, this might be less than ideal. In most cases, it’s going to be destructive. A great way to pop all those Silver Hand Recruit Divine Shields you’re likely to see. Regardless, it’s a pretty solid card, and if Control Warlock is a thing, it’s going to be a must-play. We always want to find more annoying ways to control the state of the board; and potentially wiping someone with “free damage” is one of the best ways to do it.

Revenant Rascal (3-Cost Minion): This is a card that, from the outset, seems kind of bad. A 3/3 for 3 that has a Battlecry that destroys a Mana Crystal for both players. Why would you want to reduce your own mana count though? Consider this: You play this during your turn, so you control the flow of mana. You can make this your last spell cast, so you’re now at 0 mana open. Your opponent does not have that option and lose a Mana Crystal without being able to cast first. This is going to be likely used in Zoolock to slow down the pace of the game. This will stop people from AOEing you down quite so fast. It’s definitely going to see play in Wild Zoolock though. Pair it with Mojomaster Zihi, especially in the mid-late game. Set both players Mana to 5 Crystals, and then blow one up to put both down to 4, and the game slows to a crawl.

Cascading Disaster (4-Cost Spell): I haven’t been sold on too many Warlock cards just yet. But Cascading Disaster? WOW, THIS IS GOOD. On its own, it’s a 4-cost that destroys a random enemy. The fewer targets, the better it is. But this can Corrupt twice! The second time you corrupt it, it destroys 2 random enemies. The third time? Destroy 3 random enemy minions! Control Lock/Even Lock has a new toy that is terrifyingly powerful. This just might be one of my favorite cards of the whole expansion.

Deck of Chaos (6-Cost Spell): This has the potential to be a terrifying card in the hands of a Warlock. I say “Potential” though because after going through the meta, there aren’t a ton of cards right now that are going to make this card OP. At least, not in pure Warlock cards. Now, there are some. Deck of Chaos, for 6 mana, swaps the Cost and Attack of every minion in your deck. You could use this to play Old Gods faster if they’re in your deck. In theory, it would allow you to drop some of them on turn 6/7. This also could make creatures that have low power, suddenly have very high power. I just wonder if it’s going to see more low-attack/high-cost demons come in this expansion. But a potential turn-7 or so N’Zoth, Yogg-Saron, or C’Thun? That’s the tasty kind of nonsense that we like here. It also turns Darkmoon Rabbit into a 1-cost, 10 Attack Power creature with Rush/Poisonous. There we go, that’s the ticket! Darkmoon Rabbit for 1, and blast 3 creatures for 10! Now I see where the power of the Deck of Chaos comes in. Bear in mind, this doesn’t require the minions to be “Demons.”

Tickatus (6-Cost Minion – Demon): Quite frankly, I think Tickatus is kind of a disappointing Legendary. It requires you to build around I think, but I think it could be hilariously strong in Wild. This 8/8 for 6 removes the top 5 cards from your deck upon casting. If you Corrupt it first, your opponent loses 5 cards off the top of their deck instead. With older Brann Bronzebeard this would be a nightmare, dropping 10 cards off someone’s deck. It’s okay, but I don’t think it’s anything to write home about; yet, that is.

Ringmaster’s Baton (2-Cost Equipment – Weapon): “After your Hero attacks, give a Mech, Dragon, and Pirate in your hand +1/+1”. Yup, we’re going back to a Menagerie/Zoo Warrior type build. At least, that’s what they’re trying to force in these first few cards. It’s going to be great with N’Zoth too. I wonder, if he resurrects cards, that they come back with the buffs they received before being cast. That’s going to be something to look into. Sure, this is a very specific style of buff – It only buffs 1 Mech, Dragon, and Pirate in your hand at a time. But we’ve got other Pirate/Mech/Dragon support in this expansion already, with the below Ringmaster Whatley. I’m going to give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt and say I like what this combo can potentially do.

Tent Trasher (5-Cost Minion – Dragon): See, we are getting Menagerie/Zoo comp synergy! This is normally a 5/5 for 5, but it costs 1 mana less for each friendly minion with a unique minion type. So having a Dragon, Pirate, and Mech in play makes it a 5/5 for 2 mana! If we manage something else, it’s a 1-drop!  When you combine it with the ability to buff it while it’s in our hand, this could be a very frustrating deck to play against in the coming months.

Ringmaster Whatley (5-Cost Minion): Warrior Zoo? Is that we’re seeing? This is going to be a must-run with N’Zoth, God of the Deep. He, after all, resurrects a friendly minion of each type. So having a Legendary that draws a Mech, Dragon, and a Pirate minion? That’s crazy good! A Warrior Zoo/Menagerie deck sounds more and more like it’s going to be viable. I wish he had Taunt, but I always want that. This goes very well with Ringmaster’s Baton, which we’ve already discussed. As that gives a Mech, Dragon, and a Pirate in your hand +1/+1 anytime you attack while wielding it, you pair it with cards that increase the durability of your weapon if possible. Then you drop low-cost creatures that have constantly been buffed. Some people feel this is lackluster, but I think it could produce a new way to play Warrior decks, and I’m always down for new card combos. We’ll have to wait sometime to see if it will be meta viable. If nothing else, he’ll be an awesome bomb for Arena, with how random that can get.

E.T.C., God of Metal (2-Cost Minion): Rush decks have been missing a little something for a while, to be honest. We can rush down minions, but it’s a little harder to seal the deal that way. Our Rush minions tend to die and take someone with us. What can we do about it? We rock the heck out, that’s what we do! E.T.C., God of Metal is a 2-cost ¼ and it can seriously beef up what Rush Warrior can do, no pun intended. Do I think this will make Rush Warrior a Top-Tier Deck? Not quite. But I think it could really show up and surprise people. The only downside is that we can’t do much to protect E.T.C., God of Metal it seems. If we could buff his Life or give him Divine Shield or something, that’d be grand. Keep him alive and batter people with Rush minions. It could be a good time!

Fleethoof Pearltusk (Minion – Beast, 5-Cost): A Corrupt/Rush Beast in Neutral? That has potential to be pretty great in certain decks (Hunters). If you cast this as a Corrupt minion, it gains +4/+4. An 8/8 Rush for 5? That’s not too shabby! I don’t know how viable it’s going to be, but I really think it’s got some possibility as a mid-game bomb. 

Strongman (7-Cost Minion): For most decks, this is mediocre at best. It’s a 6/6 for 7 with Taunt and Corrupt. If you Corrupt this card, it costs 0 instead. In certain control decks or Taunt Warrior, this could be really good. But you have to have an 8 or higher cost card in your hand to get the most out of this (and it has to be a useful card, otherwise it’s wasted). It’s neat, but this is an overall restricted common. I suppose that makes sense though; you don’t want every single deck to have access to a 0-cost 6/6 Taunt, after all.
Claw Machine (6-Cost Minion – Mech): On the other hand, Claw Machine can go in a lot of decks. It’s a 6-cost 6/3 with Rush/Deathrattle. When this dies, you draw a minion and give it +3/+3. So we want this to appear, kill something, die, and then come back. We can do that in Priest/Hunter pretty easily. We were wondering what Deathrattle Hunter was missing, but now we know; it’s this card. It’s always this card. I’d run a full set of these and hope to get them as often as possible. Another fantastic card in this expansion, that’s for sure.

Darkmoon Rabbit (Minion – Beast, 10-Cost): Let’s be honest; this isn’t going to see use except as a meme. That’s what it is, a meme card that is also a tribute to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That having been said, it’s a hilarious card as far as power goes. It’s a 1/1 with Poisonous/Rush, so anything it hits dies. It also damages the minions next to whomever this attacks. So, in theory, you could drop this on turn 10, and kill three minions immediately. I want to see Hunter decks drop this early though and absolutely batter someone with it. Is it possible? Of course. Is it likely? Ehhhhh. I still love the idea, and hope it gets used in pro decks/high levels of the ranked ladder.

Horrendous Growth (2-Cost Minion): Do you want to figure out a way to OTK someone, using Y’Shaarj the Defiler? You could do it with Horrendous Growth! This is a 2/2 for 2 with the ability to endlessly Corrupt. The longer you hold this in your hand, and keep casting spells that cost more (3+), this will corrupt again and again. You could in theory drop this as a 15/15 or even higher. This has a Corrupted Token, that will keep on growing. If you drop this as a giant, and then another turn later you cast Y’Shaarj, the Defiler, you can cast all of your Corrupted cards again this turn for 0 mana. This could be a fantastic way to set up an end-game scenario. The only downside is that you don’t have a way to attack with them this turn. I like this card in theory a great deal. I want to see what people do with it.

Carnival Clown (9-Cost Minion): This is a kind of mediocre card right from the outset. It’s a 9-cost that, if you corrupt it, creates fills your board with this card, instead of just two copies. It’s a 4/4 base, so having a board of 4/4s is. . . okay? The Taunt on them all helps though. But I figured out what you could do with this. Use the Warrior card Feat of Strength. It gives a random Taunt minion in your hand +5/+5. If this is the only Taunt card in your hand, you suddenly can have a board of 9/9s with Taunt. That means you’re going to need to cast a 10-cost card first. You could drop Darkmoon Rabbit, kill three minions at once, then flood your board the next turn with Carnival Clowns. It’s a situational card, but it has the potential to be devastating.

Y’Shaarj, The Defiler (Minion, 10-Cost): Behold, the Old God of Seven Heads! He lurks under the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and was destroyed during the events of Mists of Pandaria. But can true power ever really die? This 10/10 for 10 has a Battlecry built for Corrupt decks. He creates a copy of each Corrupted card you’ve played this game in your hand. They also cost 0 mana this turn. Use whatever powerful effects you need to again to make sure this game ends after the arrival of Y’Shaarj, The Defiler. 

N’Zoth, God of the Deep (Minion, 10-Cost): Seldom does N’Zoth get spoken of in the world of Azeroth. His role is the Demon Old God of Madness, Nightmares, Corruption and the Deep. Overwhelmingly powerful, he’s communicated with some of the evilest forces, like Queen Azshara. N’Zoth is a pretty powerful late-game bomb. He’s a 5/7 with Battlecry – Resurrect a friendly minion of each minion type. Where would we use this? Zoo decks perhaps? I’m not sure yet where it will go, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a nuisance.

Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate (Minion, 10-Cost): The Old God of Death, he’s most remembered for his role as the final encounter of Ulduar. He’s one of the most feared entities on Azeroth, and his name speaks of endless madness, and is the Beast of a Thousand Faces. Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate has a 10% chance of ending the game simply by casting him. If you can prevent yourself from taking damage (say, by Blur), you can just win peacefully. He’s a 7/5 that, if you’ve cast 10 spells this game so far, you spin the “Wheel of Yogg-Saron” via his Battlecry. Here’s a list of effects you can get. These are all 0-cost spells. 

• Curse of Flesh: Fill the board with random minions, and give yours Rush
• Devouring Hunger: Destroy all other minions. Gain their Attack and Health.
• Hand of Fate: Fill your hand with random spells. They cost (0) this turn.
• Mindflayer Goggles: Take control of three random enemy minions.
• Mysterybox: Cast a random spell for each spell you’ve cast this game (targets chosen randomly)
• Rod of Roasting: Cast ‘Pyroblast’ randomly until a player dies.

I like the idea of this card, but I don’t trust RNG cards in my personal decks. If a deck can go 10 turns, you can in theory just win the game. My favorites are Rod of Roasting, Devouring Hunger, and Mysterybox, if I can be honest.

C’Thun, the Shattered (Minion, 10-Cost): The Old God of Chaos and Madness, C’Thun made its debut during Ahn’Qiraj raids deep within the sands of Silithus. C’Thun is a really fascinating card, and feels true to the original boss, in its own way. This minion has a Start of Game trigger: It breaks into 30 pieces. As the game goes on, you’ll draw pieces of C’Thun. Each of the body parts costs 5 mana, and takes 4 pieces of C’Thun. Here’s what each does:

• Body of C’Thun: Summon a 6/6 C’Thun’s Body with Taunt
• Eye of C’Thun: Deal 7 damage randomly split among all enemies
• Heart of C’Thun: Deal 3 damage to all minions.
• Maw of C’Thun: Destroy a minion.

But what does the actual God do? It’s a 6/6 that when it deploys, its Battlecry deals 30 damage randomly split among all enemies. That means if you can destroy the enemies board state, you can just hit the other player for 30, for a nice, easy, game-winning bomb. Time will tell how playable the card is, but I want to see this one used the most. 

Silas Darkmoon (Minion, 7-Cost): If you use this card right, you can completely turn the tide of a game. I think it will be mostly used in Control decks though. What’s this adorable 4/4 Gnome do? When you cast him, his Battlecry makes all minions rotate either Left or Right on the board. What the heck’s so great about that? Because cards that rotate off the board swap control between players. This also includes Silas himself. The idea is that you make sure what you get rid of is much worse than what the other player gives you. A suggestion on Hearthstone’s Gamepedia is to create a Silver Hand unit and put it in one of the side slots, so your opponent gets that instead of something powerful. Just keep an eye on the board and make the other player get rid of their game-winner.