All 59 cards revealed during today's Hearthstone: Scholomance Academy livestream

Class is almost in session, as a new Hearthstone expansion rapidly approaches. Blizzard is going to school for Scholomance Academy, the latest addition to the Warcraft house's long-running collectible card game. Scholomance Academy adds 135 new cards to Hearthstone, many of which will introduce some brand new mechanics, like Dual-Class cards and Spellburst cards.

For today, we're pausing our normal card breakdowns, because Blizzard went live with a special card reveal livestream. Hearthstone Game Designer Alec Dawson and Octavian "Kripparrian" Morosan got together on Wednesday to reveal a whopping 59 new cards. As we've done in the past, we're going to go into a deeper analysis on the four top cards and list off the rest of them for anybody who missed today's stream.

But first, be sure to catch up on any analyses you might have missed:

Hearthstone: Scholomance Academy card breakdowns (Part 1)
Hearthstone: Scholomance Academy card breakdowns (Part 2)
Hearthstone: Scholomance Academy card breakdowns (Part 3)

So let's get started.

(5) Wyrm Weaver (3/6)
Type: Minion
Class: Mage
Rarity: Rare
Spellburst: Summon two 1/3 Mana Wyrms.

Analysis: Mana Wyrm hasn't seen a lot of action since it got its cost increased. But its cost increase also makes Wyrm Weaver an incredible value play. Pack your Mage deck with cheap spells and you'll not only have a 3/6 on the board, but you'll have a pair of Mana Wyrms that have their Attack power rise gradually as the game goes on. This is going to be a highly underrated card, but not to us here at Shacknews. We see the potential this puppy can have.

(4) Krolusk Barkstripper (3/5)
Type: Minion - Beast
Class: Hunter
Rarity: Epic
Spellburst: Destroy a random enemy minion.

Analysis: Speaking of high-value plays, here's a big one for the Hunter. You can pack the Krolusk Barkstripper into an aggro deck, a control deck, or a Secret deck and it'll still be marvelously effective. The Hunter packs in so many cheap spells like Scavenger's Ingenuity and Toxic Reinforcements that this will almost always pay off. And getting a 3-Cost Deadly Shot effect off of a 4-Cost 3/5 Beast is pretty sweet.

(3) Robes of Protection (2/4)
Type: Minion
Class: Neutral
Rarity: Rare
Your minions have "Can't be targeted by spells or Hero Powers."

Analysis: If you're running any kind of zoo deck, this could end up being one of the more important minions you run. If you fill up your side of the board, it essentially means that only area-of-effect spells or minion effects will be able to remove any single targets. While the livestream showed the obvious benefits to running this in a Warlock deck, Shaman and Druid players may also want to look into this, since it'll help keep their board state full for that finishing Savage Roar/Bloodlust play. This might wreak serious havoc against classes lacking single-target removal like Demon Hunter, so keep an eye on this minion. It could make a lot of noise in the new meta.

(2) Mindrender Illucia (1/3)
Type: Minion
Class: Priest
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Swap hands and decks with your opponent until your next turn.

Analysis: Priest has had different ways to sabotage players in the past, but it's never had a Legendary quite like this. Mindrender Illucia will swap out your hand and your deck with your opponent for one turn. What good does that do you, you might ask? Well, your opponent seems to have a nice win condition set up. It would sure be a shame if you were to just waste those cards and leave your opponent with no win condition when they get their cards back.

If you're running Galakrond Priest and can use Fate Weaver to discount this to zero, then it's time to go nuts! Use that Alexstrasza! Waste that Malygos! Use Togwaggle's Scheme and leave your opponents with a dozen copies of that 1/1 vanilla minion sitting on the board! Burn that Evocation! And so on and so forth.

Does Illucia have a win condition? For you, not so much. But if you count "Wrecking the opponent's win condition" as a win condition, then you have a pretty good Legendary here.

The other livestream reveals

Here are the other cards revealed during today's livestream:

(6) Sorcerous Substitute (6/6) (Neutral, Common): Battlecry: If you have Spell Damage, summon a copy of this.
(3) Firebrand (3/4) (Mage, Common): Spellburst: Deal 4 damage randomly split among all enemy minions.
(1) Demon Companion (Hunter/Demon Hunter, Rare): Summon a random Demon Companion.
(2) Manafeeder Panthara (2/3) (Neutral, Common): Battlecry: If you've used your Hero Power this turn, draw a card.
(7) Fel Guardians (Demon Hunter, Common): Summon three 1/2 Demons with Taunt. Costs (1) less whenever a friendly minion dies.
(2) Cram Session (Mage, Rare): Draw 1 card (improved by Spell Damage).
(1) Double Jump (Demon Hunter, Common): Draw an Outcast card from your deck.
(2) Voracious Reader (1/3) (Neutral, Rare): At the end of your turn, draw until you have 3 cards.
(5) Steward of Stealth (4/4) (Neutral, Common, Elemental): Spell Damage +1. Battlecry: Discover a spell.
(5) Blood Herald (1/1) (Demon Hunter, Common): Whenever a friendly minion dies while this is in your hand, gain +1/+1.
(4) Vilefiend Trainer (5/4) (Demon Hunter, Common): Outcast: Summon two 1/1 Demons.
(3) Bloated Python (2/1) (Hunter, Rare, Beast): Deathrattle: Summon a 4/4 Hapless Handler.
(5) Teacher's Pet (4/5) (Hunter/Druid, Rare, Beast): Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a random 3-Cost Beast.
(1) Overwhelm (Hunter, Rare): Deal 2 damage to a minion. Deal one more damage for each Beast you control.
(4) Reaper's Scythe (4/3) (Warrior, Rare): Spellburst: Also damages adjacent minions this turn.
(1) Shield of Honor (Warrior/Paladin, Common): Give a damaged minion +3 Attack and Divine Shield.
(3) Coerce (Rogue/Warrior, Rare): Destroy a damaged minion. Combo: Destroy any minion.
(1) Carrion Studies (Hunter, Common): Discover a Deathrattle minion. Your next one costs (1) less.
(1) Wolpertinger (1/1) (Hunter, Common, Beast): Battlecry: Summon a copy of this.
(2) Power Word: Feast (Priest, Rare): Give a minion +2/+2. Restore it to full Health at the end of this turn.
(1) Tour Guide (1/1) (Neutral, Common): Battlecry: Your next Hero Power costs (0).
(1) Animated Broomstick (1/1) (Neutral, Common): Rush. Battlecry: Give your other minions Rush.
(0) Raise Dead (Priest/Warlock, Common): Deal 3 damage to your hero. Return two friendly minions that died this game to your hand.
(1) Demonic Studies (Warlock, Common): Discover a Demon. Your next one costs (1) less.
(8) Plagued Protodrake (8/8) (Neutral, Common, Dragon): Deathrattle: Summon a random 7-Cost minion.
(4) Crimson Hothead (3/6) (Neutral, Common, Dragon): Spellburst: Gain +1 Attack and Taunt.
(1) Draconic Studies (Priest, Common): Discover a Dragon. Your next one costs (1) less.
(0) Desk Imp (1/1) (Neutral, Common, Demon)
(5) Twilight Runner (5/4) (Druid, Rare, Beast): Stealth: Whenever this attacks, draw 2 cards.
(5) Lake Thresher (4/6) (Neutral, Common, Beast): Also damages the minions next to whomever this attacks.
(1) Wave of Apathy (Paladin/Priest, Common): Set the Attack of all enemy minions to 1 until your next turn.
(6) Judicious Junion (4/9) (Paladin, Common): Lifesteal
(7) Commencement (Warrior/Paladin, Rare): Summon a minion from your deck. Give it Taunt and Divine Shield.

Cards revealed after the livestream

Blizzard also revealed a number of cards after the livestream concluded. These will be updated soon on the Hearthstone website.

(1) Partner Assignment (Druid, Rare): Add a random 2-Cost and 3-Cost Beast to your hand.
(1) Gibberling (1/1) (Druid, Common): Spellburst: Summon a Gibberling.
(5) Blessing of Authority (Paladin, Rare): Give a minion +8/+8. It can't attack heroes this turn.
(3) Enchanted Cauldron (Neutral, Epic): Spellburst: Cast a random spell of the same Cost.
(2) Plagiarize (Rogue, Common): Secret: At the end of your opponent's turn, add copies of the cards they played to your hand.
(6) Initiation (Priest, Rare): Deal 4 damage to a minion. If that kills it, summon a new copy.
(3) Self-Sharpening Sword (1/4) (Rogue, Rare): After your hero attacks, gain +1 Attack.
(2) Rune Dagger (1/3) (Shaman, Common): After your hero attacks, gain Spell Damage +1 this turn.
(1) Athletic Studies (Warrior, Common): Discover a Rush minion. Your next one costs (1) less.
(6) Smug Senior (5/7) (Neutral, Common): Taunt. Deathrattle: Add a 5/7 Ghost with Taunt to your hand.
(2) In Formation! (Warrior, Common): Add 2 random Taunt minions to your hand.
(8) Tidal Wave (Shaman, Common): Lifesteal: Deal 3 damage to all minions.
(4) Shifty Sophomore (4/4) (Rogue, Rare): Stealth. Spellburst: Add a Combo card to your hand.
(3) Vulpera Toxinblade (3/3) (Rogue, Common): Your weapon has a +2 Attack.
(1) Intrepid Initiate (1/2) (Neutral, Common): Spellburst: Gain +2 Attack.
(2) Sneaky Delinquent (3/1) (Neutral, Common): Stealth. Deathrattle: Add a 3/1 Ghost with Stealth to your hand.
(4) Divine Rager (5/1) (Neutral, Common): Divine Shield
(4) Fishy Flyer (4/3) (Neutral, Common, Murloc): Rush. Deathrattle: Add a 4/3 Ghost with Rush to your hand.
(5) Ogremancer (3/7) (Neutral, Common): Whenever your opponent casts a spell, summon a 2/2 Skeleton with Taunt.
(5) Cutting Class (Rogue/Warrior, Common): Draw 2 cards. Costs (1) less per Attack of your weapon.
(2) Trick Totem (0/3) (Shaman/Mage, Rare, Totem): At the end of your turn, cast a random spell that costs (3) or less.
(3) Molten Blast (Shaman, Rare): Deal 2 damage. Summon that many 1/1 Elementals.

The Scholomance Academy expansion now has a release date! It's set to release next Thursday, August 6. We'll keep analyzing the rest of the set, as we march towards that release date.