Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland card analyses (Part 5)

Hearthstone is one week away from launching its newest expansion. The Year of the Phoenix officially begins with Ashes of Outland, which will kick off a new Standard year proper. With the arrival of this new expansion, Blizzard debuts a new playable class and introduces 135 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 our previous entries:

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)
Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland card analyses (Part 3)
Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland card analyses (Part 4)

(4) Germination
Type: Spell
Class: Druid
Rarity: Rare
Summon a copy of a friendly minion. Give the copy Taunt.

Analysis: Here's a pretty good card for the Druid, one that largely relies on them getting board presence. Fortunately for them, they're almost assured board presence near the end of the game, thanks to Ysera, Unleashed. If you get a dragon with high stats off a Dream Portal, just make a copy of it and give it Taunt. Likewise, if you get a strong pull off the Strength in Numbers Sidequest, give yourself a second one with Taunt. The Embiggen Druid will be pleased with this spell.

(10) Nagrand Slam
Type: Spell
Class: Hunter
Rarity: Epic
Summon four 3/5 Clefthoofs that attack random enemies.

Analysis: This is an expensive proposition for the Hunter player, but one that could pay off under the right circumstances. Put this down on a clear board, for example, and watch those 3/5s all go to your opponent's face. Don't expect to see too much of this spell because of its high cost, although maybe consider running some experiments with Kael'thas Sunstrider to see if you can make this into something viable.

(6) Libram of Justice
Type: Spell
Class: Paladin
Rarity: Common
Equip a 1/4 weapon. Change the Health of all enemy minions to 1.

(2) Libram of Wisdom
Type: Spell
Class: Paladin
Rarity: Rare
Give a minion +1/+1 and "Deathrattle: Add a 'Libram of Wisdom' spell to your hand."

(9) Libram of Hope
Type: Spell
Class: Paladin
Rarity: Epic
Restore 8 Health. Summon an 8/8 Guardian with Taunt and Divine Shield.

Analysis: Say hello to the Librams! These are the new gimmick for the Paladin, all of which can offer a nice effect for the early and late game. The Libram of Hope is definitely the big winner here, because it not only restores a good chunk of the Paladin's health, it also summons a massive 8/8 Taunt with Divine Shield. This is a strong response to an opponent's Alexstrasza turn. All things considered, these are pretty strong spells. It'd be nice if they were a little cheaper, though...

(2) Aldor Attendant (2/3)
Type: Minion
Class: Paladin
Rarity: Common
Battlecry: Reduce the Cost of your Librams by (1) this game.

(5) Aldor Truthseeker (4/6)
Type: Minion
Class: Paladin
Rarity: Rare
Battlecry: Reduce the Cost of your Librams by (2) this game.

Analysis: Oh! These will help nicely! Going back to the Librams, these two helpful minions will permanently reduce their cost for the rest of the game. And since they're common and rares, you can pack more than one of them into your deck. That means you could infinitely equip free Librams of Wisdom to your minions, while dropping 3-Cost Librams of Hope to heal yourself for 8 while calling down a monstrous 8/8 Taunt with Divine Shield. You only get so many of the bigger Librams, but if you can set it up so that you can Discover some more spells, you might have a pretty great deck on your hands.

(2) Hand of A'dal
Type: Spell
Class: Paladin
Rarity: Common
Give a minion +2/+2. Draw a card.

Analysis: Here's a new minion buff for the Paladin player. It's a good Turn 2 play, one that should greatly buff up pretty much Turn 1 minion while drawing a card. This is a much stronger play than it looks and should find its way into a lot of Aggro Paladin decks. Sleep on this spell at your own risk.

(4) Replicat-o-tron (3/3)
Type: Minion - Mech
Class: Neutral
Rarity: Epic
At the end of your turn, transform a neighbor into a copy of this.

Analysis: With The Boomsday Project about to rotate out into Wild, we're about to step into a brave new post-Mech world. So where could Replicat-o-tron possibly fit?

Well, we just got done talking about Paladins and their minion buffs, so it can certainly find a home there, whether in the early or late game after a Lady Liadrin play fills your hand with minion buff spells. Toss a Sand Breath or a Blessing of Kings on this guy and it becomes a replicating menace. (Not to be confused with Replicating Menace, which is an entirely different card.)

The other big brain play will involve using this as a direct Magtheridon counter. Play this next to any of the 1/3s that come your way and now you'll have two Replicat-o-trons, while the opponent will totally lose Magtheridon's summon condition.

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. Also, as noted in the Year of the Phoenix livestream, the Demon Hunter Prologue is now live!