Hearthstone: Naxxramas - Chatty's best card combinations (Arachnid Quarter)

It's been a few days since Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has dropped its 'Curse of Naxxramas' expansion. And while the boss battles have been fairly brief, there's no denying that the unlockable cards have been worth the price of admission. In fact, as Steve and I discussed yesterday, a big chunk of the fun is how the overall metagame is affected. How do the new cards work with the old ones and what devious combinations emerge?

I posed this question to Chatty's best Hearthstone players and the results have been fascinating. Here are some Hearthstone combinations worth trying out, offering some delicious synergy between the new cards and more classic ones.

Echoing Ooze + Defender of Argus + Echoing Ooze (submitted by BlackCat9)

This is a brutal combination and one that can quickly demoralize the other side. Defender of Argus is already a piece of work on his own with any combination of minions. But when you consider that Echoing Ooze can replicate itself and any stat boosts it has at the end of its initial turn, the combination becomes insanely annoying. The gambit will end a player's turn with Defender of Argus and four (count 'em, four) 2/3 Echoing Ooze minions with Taunt.

This combination is a bit pricey, coming in at 7 mana, but it's one that's a must for any zoo deck. There are some strategies, like the Hunter's Timber Wolf/Unleash the Hounds combo and the Mage's Flamestrike spell, that can overcome it, so it isn't perfect. But it's definitely a potent combo.

Nerubian Egg + Abusive Sergeant (submitted by Wisp!)

Nerubian Egg has a nasty Deathrattle effect that tosses a 4/4 Nerubian onto the board. So it would only make sense to not touch it at all, right? Just like Ancient Watcher before it, simply let it lie.

But what if the Nerubian Egg decides to take matters into its own hands? Abusive Sergeant will give it attack power for one turn, allowing the Egg to simply kamikaze onto an enemy. It would sacrifice itself in order to summon the Nerubian, leaving a pesky 4/4 spider to deal with.

There are other cards that can assist in giving the Nerubian Egg attack power, like Raid Leader and Dark Iron Dwarf, but Abusive Sergeant is beneficial in his low mana cost.

Knife Juggler + Haunted Creeper (submitted by InfoBiter)

Knife Juggler is one of Hearthstone's most annoying minions (and coincidentally, one of Steve's favorites), but he has every reason to smile with some of the effects of the new Naxxramas cards. In particular, Haunted Creeper gives the Knife Juggler some precious extra throws, thanks to its Deathrattle effect. Should the spider minion fall, it will summon two more lesser spiders in its place, giving Knife Juggler a chance to toss two more knives. It'll fit in a lot of decks, but a Hunter will especially have a field day with this one when combined with cards like Timber Wolf or Tundra Rhino.

Likewise, Nerubian Egg will also play nice with Knife Juggler, especially after using Wisp!'s combo above. But be forewarned that spells like Flamestrike will ruin this combo's day quickly.

Poison Seeds + Bloodmage Thalnos + Swipe (submitted by HoJuSimpson)

This combination will make Druids happy late in games, especially since it's a potential bailout for hairy situations. Poison Seeds is a 4 mana cards that will wipe out all minions across both sides and replace each one with 2/2 Treants. If a Druid is faced with a zoo deck that's filled the opposing side with minions, he should simply play this card, followed by Bloodmage Thalnos for a simple +1 spell power. After that, directly using Swipe on the opposing Hero will completely wipe his side of the board.

It's a risky proposition and one that comes at a high 9 mana. But when dealing with pesky Warlock or Hunter zoos, it may just buy your Druid some precious time to get back in the game.

Maexxna + Divine Spirit/Inner Fire + Defender of Argus/Sunfury Protector (submitted by x4nth3)

This is a truly maniacal combination. The 6-mana Maexxna is already a beast of a card, with 2/8 stats that instantly kill opposing minions on contact. And nobody loves the demonic spider more than the Priest. Using the 2 mana Divine Spirit card can make it borderline untouchable. But with two mana left, that still leaves room for Sunfury Protector to give the buffed-up Maexxna a Taunt effect, making it a near-impenetrable wall. (In fact, you could go for complete overkill and use the Coin and substitute Defender of Argus for Sunfury Protector. Just for laughs, of course.)

It's a safe bet that unless the opponent has a Silence spell ready to use, Maexxna will still be standing during the next turn, allowing for a potential finishing blow with Inner Fire. Priest have already had a knack for abusing Inner Fire/Divine Spirit before, but Maexxna has made this pair of cards more dangerous than it's ever been.

Those are just some of Chatty's best combinations using the new Naxxramas cards from this week. This is just scratching the surface, so look for a potential follow-up in the coming weeks, exploring the combinations of future Naxxramas cards. In the meantime, give us your best card pairings in the comments.

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?