Kobolds and Catacombs is Hearthstone’s latest expansion with the set slated for release on 7th December (subject to change). We got a glimpse of some of the new cards set to come out as well as some other PVE content and rewards coming up out way. All of us got access to Marin the Fox for logging in, if you have not redeemed him yet, make sure you login to your Hearthstone account and grab him! We will also be getting another free legendary once the set comes out from the nine legendary weapons that are coming out. Just like Knights of the Frozen Throne, we will also be getting some PVE content in form of a rogue-like boss arena where you have to beat all of the bosses at one go with each class to redeem rewards (cards from the new set).
With that out of the way, let’s check out the cards that we’ve seen from the first week of reveals.
Druid
Lesser Jasper Spellstone: We will be getting a lot of spells that upgrade as you fulfil their conditions this expansion. These spells work similarly to the quest cards in the game, you will need to activate the triggers to upgrading these spells to make them more and more powerful. The damage starts at 2, upgrades to 4 and then upgrades again all the way to 6 for just 1 mana.
Hunter
Wandering Monster: Our first Secret of the expansion, the secret seems extremely powerful to run in a Secret package and it can help you get some great board presence in the early game. Unlike Bear trap which gets you a taunt after the damage has been done, Wandering Monster can potentially summon something like Tar Creeper or any decent 3 drop for that matter, and can help you prevent early game face damage.
Crushing Walls: Hunter has always had cards that have to do with positioning when it comes to their package of removals. Crushing Walls is a slow but powerful removal that can be highly effective. While we’ll need to wait and see how it’ll work out in constructed, in Arena where boards are not that heavily flooded, the card can serve as extremely powerful removal.
Mage
Aluneth: Aluneth falls somewhere between Nourish and Sprint, except you do not immediately draw the cards while Nourish offers the flexibility to gain mana and Sprint can be played for cheap through Preparation. What you do get in exchange though is the effect being able to trigger thrice if the weapon is not destroyed over three turns. It is definitely a card that can fit into a variety of decks that focuses on drawing combo pieces and if left unchecked, can win you games.
Paladin
Drygulch Jailor: Recruit Paladin is becoming a thing in Wild (Silver Hand Recruits, nothing to do with the new Recruit mechanic from the expansion) and something like this might serve as a good option to go with Shielded Minibot in such decks as a 2 drop to fill up the board and get some synergy off.
Priest
Unidentified Elixir: The card seems like an extremely solid buff that gives a minion a guaranteed +2/+2 and the added effect is known only when you draw the card to your hand. It can offer a Divine Shield, Summon a 1/1 copy of the targeted minion, give it Lifesteal or a Deathrattle to return it to your hand.
Rogue
Kobold Illusionist: The card allows you to summon 4/4 worth of stats if you count the Deathrattle and it can pull off something good in Deathrattle decks possibly. As of now there are better options to run in the 4 drop slot for Rogues like Sherazin or Xaril (or Piloted Shredder and Tomb Pillager in Wild) and we’ll need to wait and see what synergies can exist to warrant the inclusion of the card.
Shaman
Lesser Sapphire Spellstone: Just like the Druid spell, you can upgrade the spell to draw up to 3 copies of a friendly minion. It can be tried out in slower Shaman decks with big minions and lots of healing and removal. But the downside of the card is that the spells upgrade only when you have it in hand and you may end up drawing the spell very late after you extinguish all of your overload based removal, making it a dead card in your hand possibly.
Warlock
rin-the-first-disciple: The card is meant to be a fun pick and you should not be expecting to consistently get any value out of the legendary at all. The taunt by itself is weak and once you get the first seal, you will have to play up to the fifth(final) seal to complete the seals. Once you play Rin and the five seals, you get Azari, The Devourer which destroys your opponent’s deck! By the time you play 41 mana worth of cards to delete your opponent’s deck (cards in hand do not count), you are likely to be very close to fatigue and you won’t be to destroy too many cards. You also lose tempo while playing the seals which is another drawback. Unless the set has something to surprise us, this is definitely going to be one of those ‘meme’ cards of the expansion.
Warrior
Gather Your Party: Gather Your Party is one of the few Recruit minions we have seen from the set so far and it allows you to pull out a random minion out of your deck. It would have to be a very greedy deck to get value out of the card and the effect is completely random, making it difficult for deck builders to include powerful battlecries or big minions into the deck.
Common
Marin the Fox: People expected the Blizzcon exclusive card to be in line with Gelbin or ETC but Marin turned out to be a rather slow but fun legendary that you can consider adding to decks. And the best part is everyone gets it for free and not just Blizzcon ticket holders (they do get the shiny golden version though!). You should just try the card out in any deck that develops a decent amount of board presence to pop the chest in one turn and do not need to necessarily run removals just for the chest to get value. Even Highlander Priest is a decent option since you get so many free 2 damage pings through cheap cards.
Carnivorous Cube: Carnivorous Cube is an interesting card that can be tried out in Deathrattle decks to trigger their effects while also being able to resummon them twice. It is a slow card but can be tried out in decks that can accommodate it.
Guild Recruiter: Guild Recruiter allows you to pull out a minion that costs 4 or less and with high value picks in your deck like Tar Creeper or Flamewreathed Faceless, you can get decent stats on the board and value off the Recruit mechanic.
We will be back next week with the upcoming week’s card reveals so stay tuned for more updates on the expansion and out take on the new cards!
