All 63 cards revealed during today's Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland livestream
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Hearthstone is rapidly approaching the start of the Year of the Phoenix, which is set to kick off with the launch of the game's next expansion, Ashes of Outland. This will introduce an all-new Standard year, along with an all-new playable class, the Demon Hunter. Blizzard will introduce 135 all-new cards to join both the Standard and Wild rotations.
Shacknews, as usual, is here to break down the cards, one-by-one. However, before we kick off our feature, we're going to actually start this time by checking out the cards revealed during Wednesday's special livestream presentation. We're going to check out the four most impactful cards and offer analysis before showing off the best of the rest.
So let's get started:
(1) Font of Power Type: Spell Class: Mage Rarity: Rare Discover a Mage minion. If your deck has no minions, keep all 3.
(2) Incanter's Flow Type: Spell Class: Mage Rarity: Common Reduce the Cost of spells in your deck by (1).
Analysis: These cards are noteworthy mainly because they point to a new Mage archetype: the Spell Mage. Not the Big Spell Mage, the Spell Mage. That means no minions whatsoever. And the Mage is certainly going to get a lot of cards to support this deck type, including these two new spells, the new Evocation spell, and the Uldum Quest. What makes this work is that a lot of these spells will be able to generate minions for the Mage, so don't be surprised if you wind up seeing a lot of Spell Mages over the next expansion, especially given how beginner-friendly the class is as a whole.
(1) Reliquary of Souls (1/3) Type: Minion Class: Priest Rarity: Legendary Lifesteal. Deathrattle: Shuffle 'Reliquary Prime' into your deck.
(7) Reliquary Prime (6/8) Type: Minion Class: Priest Rarity: Legendary Taunt. Lifesteal: Only you can target this with spells and Hero Powers.
Analysis: This is one of the new Prime minions. The Priest's Prime is an interesting one, just because of how drastically the Priest is about to change. Its Lifesteal trait gives it serious comeback potential, allowing Priest players to come back from the brink. Assuming they aren't up against spell-heavy players, it should be able to stop aggressive players in their tracks and could upend their strategy entirely. Of course, this is entirely dependent on drawing the Reliquary of Souls, getting the Reliquary Prime, and surviving until Turn 7. If all of that happens, this could be a fantastic card for the Priest.
(7) Soul Mirror Type: Spell Class: Priest Rarity: Legendary Summon copies of enemy minions. They attack their copies.
Analysis: Turn your opponent's minions against them. These will summon copies of opposing minions and then those specific minions will fight each other. This could be a devastating follow-up to a Dragonqueen Alexstrasza play or it could be a lifeline against a board full of minions. Those minion-heavy Warlocks and Demon Hunters won't know what hit them.
Bonus points if you manage to copy any handy Deathrattle cards, because you'll also reap the benefit of those effects. Want a Prime card? It could be yours under the right circumstances.
(2) Kanrethad Ebonlocke (3/2) Type: Minion Class: Warlock Rarity: Legendary Your Demons cost (1) less. Deathrattle: Shuffle 'Kanrethad Prime' into your deck.
(8) Kanrethad Prime (7/6) Type: Minion - Demon Class: Warlock Rarity: Legendary Battlecry: Summon 3 friendly Demons that died this game.
Analysis: This is another of the Primes and it might be one of the best of the bunch. By itself, Kanrethad Ebonlock will offer a Demon discount for however long he's on the board. If he's removed, he'll shuffle Kanrethad Prime into your deck, which will fill half of your board with Demons you've played over the course of the game. They could range from your early-game Demons to ones you got randomly off of Galakrond, Azeroth's End. This will most certainly become a staple in any Warlock deck, regardless of what they're playing. An A+ card for the Warlock.
The other livestream reveals
Here are the other cards revealed during today's livestream:
(1) Sword and Board (Warrior, Common): Deal 2 damage to a minion. Gain 2 Armor.
(3) Overconfident Orc (1/6) (Neutral, Common): Taunt: While at full Health, this has +2 Attack.
(3) Bonechewer Raider (3/3) (Warrior, Common): Battlecry: If there is a damaged minion, gain +1/+1 and Rush.
(5) Rusteed Raider (1/8) (Neutral, Common): Taunt, Rush, Battlecry: Gain +4 Attack this turn.
(2) Bonechewer Brawler (2/3) (Neutral, Common): Taunt: Whenever this minion takes damage, gain +2 Attack.
(7) Bonechewer Vanguard (4/10) (Neutral, Common): Taunt: Whenever this minion takes damage, gain +2 Attack.
(8) Deep Freeze (Mage, Rare): Freeze an enemy. Summon two 3/6 Water Elementals.
(2) Corsair Cache (Warrior, Rare): Draw a weapon. Give it +1/+1.
(3) Netherwind Portal (Mage, Common): Secret: After your opponent casts a spell, summon a random 4-Cost minion.
(5) Scrap Golem (4/5) (Warrior, Rare, Mech): Taunt, Deathrattle: Gain Armor equal to this minion's Attack.
(3) Bladestorm (Warrior, Epic): Deal 1 damage to all minions. Repeat until one dies.
(7) Bloodboil Brute (6/8) (Warrior, Rare): Rush: Costs (1) less for each damaged minion.
(4) Felfin Navigator (4/4) (Neutral, Common, Murloc): Give your other Murlocs +1/+1.
(4) Rustsworn Cultist (3/3) (Neutral, Common): Battlecry: Give your other minions "Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 Demon."
The Ashes of Outland expansion is set to release on April 7. If you're waiting for Shacknews to kick off our latest round of card analyses, those will begin in earnest tomorrow. Meanwhile, Hearthstone will change in a big way this Thursday, as the Hall of Fame rotation and Priest rework go into effect.