Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows card analyses (Part 2)

Earlier this month, Blizzard revealed what's next for its long-running digital collectible card game Hearthstone. The new Standard will officially begin with the arrival of 2019's first expansion, Rise of Shadows. The villains have all united to usher in the Year of the Dragon. And that means a whole new set of cards to take Hearthstone into a brave new world.

We started off our analyses earlier this month with the official reveal of the Rise of Shadows expansion. If you've missed the card breakdowns, here's what we have so far:

Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows card analyses (Part 1)
Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows live stream cards and analysis

With the recap wrapped up, let's look at the next batch of cards:

(1) Togwaggle's Scheme
Type: Spell
Class: Rogue
Rarity: Rare
Choose a minion. Shuffle 1 copy of it into your deck. (Upgrades each turn!)
Source: @PlayHearthstone on Twitter

Analysis: Oh, you've gotta be kidding me with this card. Togwaggle's Scheme almost ensures that the Rogue is fatigue-proof. If it shows up in the player's opening hand and it goes into the late, it has the potential to shuffle dozens of minions into the Rogue player's deck. This puts Lab Recruiter to absolute shame.

This can fit in a variety of Rogue decks. It'll fit in a spider deck, it'll fit in a Pogo Hopper deck, and it can even fit in a Pirate deck. Wild players will easily be able to fit this into a Quest Rogue deck, too. For one cost, this spell is going to show up a lot in the meta going forward and I wouldn't be surprised to see it become a potential nerf candidate within weeks.

(7) Swampqueen Hagatha (5/5)
Type: Minion
Class: Shaman
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Add a 5/5 Horror to your hand. Teach it two Shaman spells.
Source: @PlayHearthstone on Twitter

Analysis: Hagatha's second form has the potential to be really powerful for Shaman players. If you can withstand a Turn 7 where you play a relatively weak 5/5, you'll add a 5-Cost 5/5 Horror with the Battlecry of dealing out two Shaman spells.

But which Shaman spells? Keep in mind that Healing Rain is set to rotate out to Wild. That leaves Lightning Storm for board clear or Eureka to help potentially call forth a second big body. Rain of Toads could also be useful in filling up the board with Taunts to go along with that 5/5 body.

The jury's tentatively out on the new Hagatha until we see what the other Shaman spells for this set look like. But right now, it's looking pretty solid, especially for Wild Shamans.

(6) Oblivitron (3/4)
Type: Minion - Mech
Class: Hunter
Rarity: Legendary
Deathrattle: Summon a Mech from your hand and trigger its Deathrattle.
Source: Hearthstone on Instagram

Analysis: Oblivitron could work well in a Hunter Mech deck, but it would ultimately depend on which Mechs we're talking about. The most obvious synergy here would be with Spider Bomb, but there are few others this could work with. Weaponized Pinata would work nicely with Oblivitron, but few other Mechs currently in Standard stand to really benefit from this effect. Build your deck carefully, otherwise this effect could be a dud.

(0) Lazul's Scheme
Type: Spell
Class: Priest
Rarity: Epic
Reduce the Attack of an enemy minion by 1 until your next turn. (Upgrades each turn!)
Source: Hearthstone on Instagram

Analysis: Lazul's Scheme will work beautifully with Cabal Shadow Priest to help take control of a pesky opposing minion. There's also room for shenanigans here, since it's possible to cast Lazul's Scheme on a minion, reduce its Attack to zero, and then wipe it out with Topsy Turvy all for the low cost of zero! And that's a very handy combo for decks running Surrender to Madness, which don't have too much mana to work with in the early game.

(3) Rafaam's Scheme
Type: Spell
Class: Warlock
Rarity: Common
Summon 1 1/1 Imp. (Upgrades each turn!)
Source: Hearthside Chat - Rise of Shadows: Extraordinarily E.V.I.L.

Analysis: Rafaam may be an evil genius, but his Scheme doesn't look too good on paper.

What's somebody going to do with a bunch of 1/1 Imps? Well, there are a bunch of spells that can interact with them in various ways. Grim Rally removes one Imp and buffs the rest of them into 2/2 Imps. Dark Possession removes one from the board and finds a better Demon. Certain minions can work with this, too. Spirit of the Bat can make great use of these paper-thin Imps and use their deaths to power up whatever else is in hand.

This shouldn't be anyone's first choice, but Rafaam's Scheme isn't entirely useless. It just doesn't look to be high tier.

(4) Omega Devastator (4/5)
Type: Minion - Mech
Class: Warrior
Rarity: Epic
Battlecry: If you have 10 Mana Crystals, deal 10 damage to a minion.
Source: Hearthside Chat - Rise of Shadows: Extraordinarily E.V.I.L.

Analysis: This is a fantastic minion for the Warrior player, both in constructed and Arena. With 4/5 stats, it goes along the upper tier of 4-Cost minions. It becomes much more effective in the late game, with its ability to remove a majority of late game minions.

Better yet, it's going to be an A+ pull from the Dr. Boom, Mad Genius Discover effect. Imagine pulling this out and getting a chance to potentially remove something powerful from the opposing side while also putting a 4/5 on the board. Yes, Omega Devastator will prove to be one of the better Warrior minions to come out of this expansion.

(1) Improve Morale
Type: Spell
Class: Warrior
Rarity: Common
Deal 1 damage to a minion. If it survives, add a Lackey to your hand.
Source: Hearthside Chat - Rise of Shadows: Extraordinarily E.V.I.L.

Analysis: This is an interesting way to add a Lackey to your hand. Think of this as a cheaper Slam, with arguably greater value. It's a low cost combo to play this card alongside Execute or Devastate.

This should definitely find a home in more than a few Control Warrior decks.

(3) Madame Lazul (3/2)
Type: Minion
Class: Priest
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Discover a copy of a card in your opponent's hand.
Source: @PlayHearthstone on Twitter

Analysis: So maybe Chameleos hasn't caught on the way some people expected when it was first revealed. But Madame Lazul stands to be a better "peek at your opponent's hand" card. That's because her Discover effect will give you a peek at three of your opponent's card, while letting you keep a copy of one of them. That makes it easy to turn the tables on them with their own shenanigans or makes it easier to prepare for the wombo combo that's potentially headed your way.

Madame Lazul's 3/2 stats won't fare well, but it'll be worth throwing out there to potentially learn the opponent's win condition. It's a high-value recon play and one that could come in handy in constructed play.

Shacknews will continue to monitor cards and analyze them in the lead-up to the next big Hearthstone expansion. Come back next week, as we continue with the community-revealed cards. Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows is set to release on April 9.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?