Hearthstone is less than a few weeks away from launching a new Standard year. The Year of the Phoenix kicks off with a new expansion, as players jump into Ashes of Outland. With the arrival of a new expansion, Blizzard will debut an all-new playable class and introduce 135 brand new cards for both Standard and Wild.
Card reveals for Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland have come and gone and now it's just a matter of waiting for the expansion's arrival. So let's make that time go a little faster by taking a look at the cards that are about to debut and giving them a full analysis.
Before we begin the analyses, be sure to check out the cards revealed during last Wednesday's livestream presentation and catch up with Parts 1 and 2:
All 63 cards revealed during today's Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland livestream
Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland card analyses (Part 1)
Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland card analyses (Part 2)
(2) Shadowjeweler Hanar (1/5)
Type: Minion
Class: Rogue
Rarity: Legendary
After you play a Secret, Discover a Secret from a different class.
Analysis: Meet the anchor of the new Secret Rogue deck. Shadowjeweler Hanar should be able to fill up your hand with Secrets if used in the late game, especially if you manage to find cheap Paladin Secrets. And if you don't expect it to survive into the next turn, save it with Shadowstep and deploy it again later. It's hard to gauge whether the Secret Rogue deck will have legs, but if nothing else, this will be a lot of fun to play over the first few weeks of the expansion.
(2) Imprisoned Scrap Imp (3/3)
Type: Minion - Demon
Class: Warlock
Rarity: Rare
Dormant for 2 turns. When this awakens, give all minions in your hand +2/+2.
Analysis: The Imprisoned Scrap Imp should fit in a lot of Warlock decks, whether it be the Zoo or Handlock. What makes the Scrap Imp especially handy is that as soon as it wakes up, it gives you a helpful 3/3 body on the board. If you're playing this, be sure to pack in a Shadowflame in case you need a quick board removal.
(2) Astromancer Solarian (3/2)
Type: Minion
Class: Mage
Rarity: Legendary
Spell Damage +1. Deathrattle: Shuffle 'Solarian Prime' into your deck.
(7) Solarian Prime (7/7)
Type: Minion - Demon
Class: Mage
Rarity: Token
Spell Damage +1. Battlecry: Cast 5 random Mage spells (targets enemies if possible).
Analysis: Ooh, this Prime is pretty cool. So it not only offers up boosted Spell Damage, but Solarian Prime will give you five Mage spells in one go and targe them all at enemies! Frostbolt? Enemy! Pyroblast? Enemy! Conjurer's Calling? Enem...oh. Okay, so it's not perfect. But it's still a powerful legendary and one that should find its way into a lot of Highlander Mage decks.
(6) The Lurker Below (6/3)
Type: Minion - Beast
Class: Shaman
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Deal 3 damage to an enemy minion. If it dies, repeat on one of its neighbors.
Analysis: This is an interesting Legendary for the Shaman player, in that it can chain together minion removal. That's almost enough to overcome its bad stat line. But that 6/3 line is a little too much to overcome for a 6-Cost minion. The Shaman player might be better served by using a much cheaper spell, like Lightning Breath or Lightning Storm.
(3) Akama (3/4)
Type: Minion
Class: Rogue
Rarity: Legendary
Stealth. Deathrattle: Shuffle 'Akama Prime' into your deck.
(6) Akama Prime (6/5)
Type: Minion
Class: Rogue
Rarity: Token
Permanently Stealthed.
Analysis: On paper, this looks like it could be loads of fun for the Rogue player. The opponent can't kill what they can't see, right? Well, that's not necessarily true. There are ways to play around this thing, whether it's through area-of-effect spells or minions like Kronx Dragonhoof. This isn't invincible by any means.
In the meantime, do what you can with some of the new Rogue minions that boost up Stealth minions. Try and get Akama Prime out of the area-of-effect range and it should serve you well.
(3) Zixor, Apex Predator (2/4)
Type: Minion - Beast
Class: Hunter
Rarity: Legendary
Rush. Deathrattle: Shuffle 'Zixor Prime' into your deck.
(8) Zixor Prime (4/4)
Type: Minion - Beast
Class: Hunter
Rarity: Token
Rush. Battlecry: Summon 3 copies of this minion.
Analysis: On its face, Zixor Prime doesn't look too intimidating. Three 4/4 Beasts with Rush can be brought under control. But read that text a little closer. It will summon three copies of this minion, which opens the door to handbuffs. If you can draw this off of Scavenger's Ingenuity, then you're suddenly summoning three 7/7 Beasts. I would expect a lot more handbuff tools to come in later expansions, so Zixor Prime has the potential to get much better over time.
(7) Lady Liadrin (4/6)
Type: Minion
Class: Paladin
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Add a copy of each spell you cast on friendly characters this game to your hand.
Analysis: Part of being a Paladin player involves knowing when to use spells like Blessing of Kings and Lightforged Blessing. Lady Liadrin means you don't have to worry about being so conservative, because she'll ultimately give you all of those spells back. So go nuts and don't be afraid to load up on spells, because you'll have them ready for the late game.
(3) Warmaul Challenger (1/10)
Type: Minion
Class: Warrior
Rarity: Epic
Battlecry: Choose an enemy minion. Battle it to the death!
Analysis: I don't know if you necessarily want to bet on a 1/10 minion. You'll probably wind up losing that fight more often than not. This one is definitely meant for the early game, unless you can somehow handbuff it. If you do use Warmaul Challenger to remove a low-value target, it becomes a tantalizing target for Rampage on the next turn.
(3) Augmented Porcupine (2/4)
Type: Minion - Beast
Class: Hunter
Rarity: Epic
Deathrattle: Deal this minion's Attack damage randomly among all enemies.
Analysis: Here's another strong candidate for handbuffs. Like Zixor Prime, you'll want to hope you draw this off of the new Scavenger's Ingenuity. The problem is that the effect is off a Deathrattle and not a Battlecry, because there are numerous ways to get around this with a Deathrattle. The Priest, in particular, is excited to use the newly-discounted Shadow Madness here. Be careful and don't drop this blindly.
(8) Beastmaster Leoroxx (5/5)
Type: Minion
Class: Hunter
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Summon 3 Beasts from your hand.
Analysis: Oh dear. Check out the Hunter's new win condition. This will bring out three Beasts from the Hunter player's hand. And good news for you, Hunter player. If one of those Beasts is Tundra Rhino, you just might win on this play! A single Tundra Rhino with double Core Hound is 20 damage to face, which will often be more than enough to put the game away with extreme prejudice. That damage goes up to 26 on a Quest Hunter, so keep that in mind, too.
This is a big winner for the Hunter player. Expect to see a lot of Tundra Rhinos going forward.
(4) Kayn Sunfury (3/5)
Type: Minion
Class: Demon Hunter
Rarity: Legendary
Charge: All friendly attacks ignore Taunt.
Analysis: It's the first new Charge minion to come along since the introduction of Rush and, oh, it's a big one. This not only has Charge, but it allows all friendly attacks to totally ignore Taunt minions and go straight for the face. This will be in a lot of Demon Hunter win conditions, whether it's in decks playing big Demons or in zoo decks or in decks that focus on upping the Hero's own Attack power. This will be in virtually every Demon Hunter deck for the next two years, so get used to seeing this guy now. He'll be around a while.
That's all for now. We'll be looking at the rest of the new expansion's cards as its release date approaches. Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland releases on April 7.
-
Shacknews
replyOzzie Mejia posted a new article, Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland card analyses (Part 3)
