Introduction
With the newest expansion Journey to Un’Goro coming closer and closer cards are now starting to be revealed. And while everyone is busy reviewing the cards, theory crafting, brewing new decks in their mind, I’m going to take a look at how good these cards will be in the Arena and how will they affect the meta. With the small portion of the cards revealed, I can already tell that there are a lot of great cards for Arena and the general power level of Arena might increase by quite a bit. The cards will be rated into the following: Terrible, Bad, Below average, Average, Above average, Good, Amazing. For this first part of the card review series I am also going to discuss the new mechanics which are coming with the expansion. So without further ado let’s jump into the land of Un’Goro and see what it has to offer.
Quests
Quests are a new mechanic that is going to be introduced in Journey to Un’Goro. Quests are legendary spells that cost 1 mana and always show up during the mulligan if you have them in your deck. Quests make you go on a quest as the mechanic implies. When a quest is played you will have to fulfill certain requirements (like summoning 7 deathrattle minions for awaken-the-makers). Once you do that the quest will be completed and you are going to receive a very powerful card as a reward (Amara-Warden-of-Hope in case of Awaken the Makers).
Now in my reviews I’m not going to be reviewing each quest separately for several reasons. First of all quests are legendary spells and with the current offering rates you usually expect 1 legendary per deck which means that the chance of getting a quest even offered during the draft is very slim. Moreover the quests are very dependent on your deck. If you only have 5 deathrattles in your deck and on the last pick Awaken the Makers shows up, of course it is garbage and you shouldn’t pick it since there is no way you will complete the quest. On the other hand if the quest is offered as the first card during the draft, then it may be a good idea to pick it and build a deck around it. Because quests are so deck dependent, it’s impossible to give them an accurate rating. However I do think that in general quests are bad in Arena because the conditions are often too extreme to complete. And quests depend on luck way too much in Arena. When you draft a quest, not only you need to get offered a bunch of cards that can fulfill the quest requirement but also you have to draw them. Therefore I think that quests are bad in general, however they can be extremely good given the right deck.
Adapt
Adapt is another mechanic coming soon with Journey to Un’Goro. It allows you to discover an adaption for a minion from 10 available adaptations. I do believe that adapt is going to be a very strong mechanic. In Arena flexibility is very important since you can’t make your decks flexible if you don’t get offered good cards. Adapt is the definition of flexible and it is going to be very strong in Arena because there are adaptions for many various situations. Even though there is some luck involved in the adaptions that you will get to choose from, most of the time you will be able to get a generally strong adaptation with which the minion will be stronger than most others at that mana cost.
Crackling Shield – gives a minion Divine Shield. One of the best adaptations. Divine Shield is very powerful especially in mid-sized minions. Crackling Shield can force the opponent to sacrifice tempo by using their Hero Power to remove the Divine Shield or they may have to sacrifice a small drop.
Flaming Claws – gives a minion +3 attack. Flaming Claws are only good small minions. For mid-sized minions like 4/4 or above Flaming Claws become quite bad as at that point minions usually have enough attack to kill most stuff anyway so there are better adaptations for sure.
Living Spores – gives a minion Deathrattle: Summon two 1/1 Plants. One of the worse adaptations from the bunch. Two 1/1 minions aren’t going to make an impact on the board in the mid/late game. On top of that this adaptation is the slowest of them all since your adapted minion will have to die for it to take effect. Overall close to being the worst.
Lightning Speed – gives a minion Windfury. Lightning Speed is very conditional and can be either very good or very bad. It really shines if you want to push damage to face as it can help set up lethal for the next turn. Also having Windfury on a big drop can be useful if you want to clear several minions. In general Lightning speed is a very conditional adaptation.
Liquid Membrane – gives a minion Can’t be targeted by spells or Hero Powers. The worst adaptation for Arena in my opinion. First of all spells aren’t too common in Arena even though they did get their offering rates buffed with 7.1 patch. On top of that why take Can’t be targeted by spells when you can take stealth for one turn which will do the same except it will also protect it from minions. The worst adaptation in my opinion.
Massive – gives a minion Taunt. Massive is similar to Lightning Speed as it’s very conditional and varies a lot on the board state. Overall Taunt isn’t a very strong mechanic, however in some cases Massive is going to shine.
Volcanic Might – gives a minion +1/+1. Volcanic Might only gives +2 stats whilst Rocky Carapace and Flaming Claws give +3 in stats. Therefore Volcanic Might doesn’t strike me as a good adaptation, however the good thing about it is that unlike other adaptations, Volcanic Might is going to be good no matter the board state so it is very consistent.
Rocky Carapace – gives a minion +3 health. One of the best adaptations in my opinion. If you put this on a mid-sized creature with enough attack to kill opponent’s minions, it is a great adaptation. +3 Health makes the minion a lot more durable and it becomes harder to remove for your opponent. A great and one of my favorite adaptations.
Shrouding Mist – gives a minion Stealth until your next turn. I really like Shrouding Mist as it has quite a few uses. First of all you can pick it so you guarantee yourself good trades for the next turn and make sure your minion is not going to die to neither opponent’s board nor direct removal. On top of that Shrouding Mist is a great way to push face damage for the late game when you’ve lost the board and need to finish off your opponent. Shrouding is my favorite adaptation just because of the flexibility and late game reach potential.
Poison Spit – gives a minion Poisonous. Poison Spit is very conditional and depends on the board state just like Taunt or Windfury adaptations. Preferably Poison Spit is better for small cards so they can trade up better. Overall very dependent on the board state.
Card Reviews
As we all know board clears in Arena are very good and Volcano is no different. Dealing damage to your own board is no good of course, however you will want to use Volcano when you are far behind the board. Before using Volcano you can trade in your minions into the opponent’s. Most of the time the total health of the opponent’s board won’t b e above 15 which means with Volcano you will be able to clear the board fully most of the time. On top of that Volcano can be used as a costly hard removal. If the opponent plays ysera or another huge, hard to remove minion, Volcano can be an answer. Since Volcano costs 5 mana you will be able to develop your own board after clearing it. Overall a good, flexible removal.
Rating: Good
Pyros is extremely powerful in Arena. The amount of value it can generate is just insane and playing all 3 parts will guarantee you at least a 1 for 3 trade in terms of card advantage. Another great thing about Pyro is that it is good in all stages of the game. It can be good in the early game on turn 2, it can be dropped before turn 6, have it die and you will have a decent play on turn 6. If you have Pyro on turn 2, you can worry less about curving out since you will have stuff to play on 3 turns putting less pressure on you. Pyros shines the most in heavy late game decks and in more aggressive ones it won’t be as amazing, however even in the most aggressive decks Pyro can find a place just because it is so good.
Rating: Amazing
As I’ve mentioned previously, I believe that adapt is going to be a very strong mechanic in the Arena. Therefore Verdant Longneck is going to be a great card. Due to its stats even with the worst adaptions Verdant Longneck is still going to be strong. The biggest power comes from flexibility of the card since you can adapt to different situations on the board. It’s great that Druid is getting such a strong common since currently they are lacking power in Arena.
Rating: Good
Since we’re talking about Arena, Gentle Megasaur most of the time is going to be a vanilla 4 mana 5/4 with no text. The good thing is that 4 mana 5/4 minions are decent curve cards and getting a good neutral 4 drop is pretty good for the early game. Since it is an epic, however, often times there will be better options. If by miracle you manage to draft a lot of murlocs in your deck and have Gentle Megasaur in it, then the card is bonkers. Adapting several minions with one card is very strong and since adapt is worth around 1 mana Megasaur can give a lot of tempo if it manages to hit several murlocs. Yet those scenarios are very unlikely and we should just look at this card as a 4 mana 5/4 with no effect.
Rating: Average
The effect of this card is absolutely bonkers. Explore Un’Goro literally replaces your whole deck with 1 mana spells that discover a card. In Arena discovering a random card is better than drawing once since you can pick one for your current game state and on top of that cards of all rarities have the same chance of being offered unlike during the draft. The biggest problem though is that the spells that discover a card cost 1 mana. This sacrifices too much tempo since you will have to spend 1 mana each turn to discover a card. This essentially means that you play with 1 less mana each turn. Besides that we have to remember that discover cards weight class cards more than other ones which means that you will be getting a ton of Warrior class cards. And there are a lot of warrior class cards that are either way too situational or just straight up bad. The card is extremely fun to play, however in Arena it is not going to be good at all.
Rating: Bad
Tortollan Shellraiser is tough to evaluate for sure. Tortollan Shellraiser is meant to be a way to deal with early game minions, however in the current Arena meta there are very few 2 drops and curving out in the early game begins on turn 3 with a 4/3 minion most of the time. This means that Shellraiser just trades one for one. Also with Arena going standard, many 2 or less health minions have rotated out which makes Tortollan statline not so good. The deathrattle is a nice bonus for the card. Because Tortollan has taunt it is very likely to buff a minion unlike spawn-of-nzoth or other deathrattle buff cards which can’t anything because the opponent kills the board. Overall the stats are bad for this one, however the decent deathrattle pushes Tortollan Shellraiser from Below average to Above average.
Rating: Above Average
The first comparison we should make is between Lakkari and senjin-shieldmasta. Lakkari has 3 more health than Sen’jin and is a demon. The demon factor isn’t important since demons synergies are at minimal in Arena. Besides there are only 2-3 cards that have good synergy with demons which you might expect to find in Arena. Since the demon tag isn’t too important the question is 3 health really worth discarding 2 cards. The answer to that is no. Another good comparison to make is between Lakkari Felhound and ancient-of-blossoms. If we ignore the demon tag the stats are exactly the same. The only difference is that Ancient of Blossoms costs 2 more mana. In no world 2 mana tempo is worth discarding 2 cards for. If you look at soulfire for example and compare it with shadow-bolt, you can see that with Soulfire you discard a card in exchange for 2 mana. Therefore discarding 2 cards just to gain 2 mana tempo advantage is just plain silly.
Rating: Bad
First of all let’s look at the stats of Arcanologist. For 2 mana you are getting 2/3 stats which makes the card at least average. The effect on top of that is just crazy if you have secrets in your deck. 2 mana 2/3 that draws a card is crazy good. If you compare it to novice-engineer you get +1/+2 stats for the same mana cost. Of course you need to have secrets in your deck if you want to benefit from Arcanologist’s effect. The beauty of it, however, is that you don’t actually need secrets in your deck for Arcanologist to be decent since it already has a good stat line and the effect is just a cherry on the top. Overall decent if you don’t draw a secret and very good if you do.
Rating: Good
In Arena elise-the-trailblazer is a lot better than elise-starseeker. This is because with Elise Starseeker you not only need to draw to map but also find the monkey. With Elise the Trailblazer you only need to draw a pack and there you go you get tons of value. For 2 mana you get 5 Journey to Un’Goro cards from the pack. This is huge value when compared to other draw effects. Finding the pack might be difficult because the games in Arena usually don’t last that long and it is very rare to reach fatigue. Yet the good thing about Elise the Trailblazer is that it is a good body itself. For 5 mana 5/5 minion is what you want. The cards from Un’Goro pack are random, however you are guaranteed at least an epic and even if you get bad cards it is worth since pack only costs 2 mana. Overall really great if you manage to draw the pack and even if you don’t it’s still a nice body.
Rating: Good
Not much to say about Gollaka Crawler. It is very unlikely you will be able to eat a pirate so most of the time Golakka will be the same as river-crocolisk. 2 mana 2/3 is average and what you’d expect from a 2 drop.
Rating: Average
Honestly I’m a bit sceptical of how well Dinosize will perform in Arena. My biggest problem with it is that it’s way too cluncky and often a dead draw. It is a very situational card too since you need specific board to be able to play it. You can use it at 10 mana along with reinforce to make a 10 mana 10/10 minion which isn’t anything spectacular. The best use for Dinosize would be in aggressive decks as a finisher. Because Paladin’s lack a way to finish the game, often times aggressive decks would get shut down as soon as they start losing the board. With Dinosize you will have 10 damage burst available as long as you have a minion on board to attack with. Yet I do believe that it is too dead of a draw in the early and mid game for it to be very good. You definitely don’t want to have more than 2 copies of this card in your deck. Even 2 is questionable as if you manage to draw them both in the early game you will get screwed easily. Overall i think it’s too clunky, however it can be good in aggressive decks as a finisher.
Rating: Below average
Sherazin has a very interesting mechanic. When it dies it generates a minion on board with no stats which will stay on the board until you play 4 cards a turn. Then Sherazin gets revived. Now first of all in Arena playing 4 cards in a turn is incredibly hard. Because there is almost no guaranteed way to have draw cards in your deck, it is hard to consistently play 4 cards a turn. At absolute maximum you should expect to revive Sherazin 2 times during the game. Most of the time, though, you will manage to revive Sherazin either once or won’t revive him at all during the game. The good thing about Sherazin is that for its effect it only sacrifices 1 health when compared to other vanilla 4 mana 5/4 minions. For 1 health to have the option to get a free 5/3 minion later in the game is very good. The decent stats save this card, otherwise it would have been quite bad in Arena. When playing Sherazin expect to have a free 5/3 once later on in the game nothing more.
Rating: Above Average
Tar Creeper is very hard to evaluate. During your turn the stats are garbage – 1/5 doesn’t kill anything at all and during your turn taunt doesn’t matter. During the opponent’s turn Tar Creeper is the same as senjin-shieldmasta except it costs one less mana. The good thing about Tar Creeper is that your opponent can’t simply ignore since it had taunt. At some point the opponent will be forced to spend some resources to deal with it. The problem, however, is that Tar Creeper itself isn’t a threat at all. Your opponent can choose to not attack it and won’t get punished since Tar Creeper can only do 1 face damage. This allows the opponent to build up a board and only then send minions into Tar Creeper. At that point opponent can choose what favourable trades he wants to make with Tar Creeper. This is the biggest problem with it – letting the opponent decide when and how he will deal with Tar Creeper.
Rating: Above Average
Swamp King Dred is very unique. With the effect it will usually take the opponent at least 2-3 minions to completely kill of King Dred. This means that they spend almost their entire turn dealing with one minion of yours. The biggest problem with King Dred in constructed isn’t present in Arena. Hard removals are the best counter to Swamp King Dred. In arena, though, hard removals aren’t as common as they are in constructed. This means that most of the time the opponent won’t have a choice other than to send his minions straight into Swamp King Dred’s jaws to get eaten. Dred is at his best when you have the board and drop him. Because if you are equal on board or you are behind, King Dred won’t be of much use since opponent can send his minions that are already on the board to kill him. Overall I’m really exciting about this card and the mechanic and I do believe that Swamp King Dred is going to be strong in Arena for sure.
Rating: Good
Even though Crystaline Oracle is a cool and a well designed card, in Arena it won’t be as good. 1/1 stats are not going to impact the board too much, especially in the current meta. The deathrattle has quite a bit of randomness to it which isn’t great for Arena players. On top of that why should you be interested in the opponent’s deck when on average you get offered cards of same value. The buying point of Crystalline Oracle is that it’s an elemental. In constructed that is very important, however in Arena synergies aren’t that common and you certainly won’t want to hold on to Crystalline Oracle just so you can get the benefit of elemental synergy next turn. Overall I don’t like the randomness of the card and there haven’t been enough elemental synergies revealed to make a judgement on that.
Rating: Below average
Really tough to evaluate it without seeing Sunkeepet Tarim in play. Obviously you will want to play this card when you are behind on the board. Even then a bunch of 3/3 minions are threatening, however if the opponent doesn’t have an answer to Tarim he will eat up three 3/3 minions which is pretty good value. The bad thing about Tarim is that unlike equality Tarim can’t be comboed with another card for a board clear. This means that when you play Tarim the pesky 3/3 minions will still stay on board with their effects. Overall not to keen on Sunkeeper Tarim but we will have to see how he turns out.
Rating: Below average
Shadow visions is interesting as it’s hard to decide if the effect is worth 2 mana. When you look at other cards that discover like i-know-a-guy or journey-below they cost only 1 mana. However Shadow Visions is clearly better than discovering 3 random cards since your deck is already filtered out during the draft. This means that you get to choose from 3 cards that you have already decided are better than other 2 offered during the draft. On top of that spells usually are the cards that swing the game in Arena so it is great to discover a spell and chances are most of spells in your deck are at least above average. Besides the fact that you discover a spell is great since you can pick the best one for your current board situation. If you have plenty of hard removals and AoE in your deck with Shadow Visions you will be able to pick one that suits the current board state better. All of these benefits I do believe outweigh the mana cost and the card is quite good.
Rating: Good
First of all Clutchmother Zavas is a 2 mana 2/2 which is bad for its mana cost for sure. The effect is very unreliable and since we’re talking about Arena there aren’t going to be that many discards happening. Even if you play something that discards a card, it’s still random if you will get lucky enough to discard Clutchmother Zavas. Another problem with it is that you probably will get to discard it 1 or 2 times at most. And if you play a 2 mana 4/4 sure it sounds very good on paper, however don’t forget that you will most likely be playing this in the late game at which point 2 mana 4/4 isn’t even that impressive. Overall too unreliable and rng heavy to be good in Arena.
Rating: Bad
First let’s look at the stats without effect triggering. For 7 mana 4/4 elemental is absolute garbage so you want to always trigger the effect. The problem is the effect isn’t even that strong and it isn’t that easy to activate it. What card does two 2/3 taunts remind you of? That’s right it’s the same as feral-spirit. Now Feral Spirit costs 3 mana + 2 overload so they’re worth around 4 mana. This means that if you manage to get offered, draft and then play an elemental on a correct turn you will get a 3 mana 4/4 minion which casts Feral Spirit. Even worse is that on turn 7 2/3 taunts lose their purpose as the wolves are best in the early game while they can still provide some card advantage. In the late game 2/3 taunts will simply die to anything. Overall an effect that is hard to activate which isn’t great even if it does.
Rating: Bad
Very hard to evaluate without knowing all the elementals that will be released with the expansion. For Ozruk to be good you want to play at least 2 elementals the turn before. I do believe that it will be hard to achieve this since you don’t want to sacrifice tempo by holding elementals in hand just so you can play them a turn before and get a big Ozruk. Unless they release a lot of nice elementals Ozruk’s ability will be too hard to trigger and make use of.
Rating: Bad
Closing
That’s all for part 1 of my reviews for Journey to Un’Goro in Arena. What do you think about these cards and how well they will perform in the Arena? Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2.
Until next time!
