Introduction
Hello everyone and welcome to my 4th and final Arena card review for Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. As always cards are rated with Terrible, Bad, Below average, Average, Above average, good, Amazing. The cards are sorted by rarity so you can find cards you want using table of contents on the right.
Neutral commons
hozen-healer is too situational to be good. The stats and their distribution aren’t great either. Hozen would have been better if it was a 4/4 instead of 2/6. The effect is way too situational and will rarely be useful. On top of that if there is a single damaged minion on opponent’s board you will be forced to heal it with Hozen. Overall not good stats and effect is too situational.
Rating: Below average
daring-reporter is going to have 4/4 stats by the start of opponent’s turn. 4 mana 4/4 are good stats for it’s mana cost so even without Daring Reporter’s ability triggering more than once it’s already worth it. The potential of the card is huge. On every opponent’s turn it will get buffed at least by +1/+1. It can get even more if opponent plays spells that draw cards, however that is unlikely since they won’t want to buff the Reporter. Overall good base stats and big potential to steamroll.
Rating Good
naga-corsair is going to be plain 4 mana 5/4 most of the time which isn’t bad. The +1 attack buff on weapons isn’t too relevant unless playing Rogue. In classes with weapons Naga Corsair is going to be a bit above average because it may generate small value from buffing a weapon, however 90% of the time this is going to be a vanilla 4 mana 5/4 which is average. The pirate tag is a nice bonus, however there aren’t that many pirates to have synergies with.
Rating: Above average
ancient-of-blossoms has not only poor amount of stats but also their distribution is awful. At 6 mana 3 attack is just too little for the card to be good. The 8 health is going to make it quite hard to get through so it can be good if protecting valuable minions, however due to low attack this card isn’t going to be that good.
Rating: Below average
gadgetzan-socialite is not great because of its stats. At 2 mana at least 2/3 or 3/2 is to be expected. The heal isn’t too impactful and almost useless in the early game when 2 mana cards are supposed to be played. On turn 2 restore 2 health will definitely not have an impact on the board. In the later turns restoring 2 health isn’t too bad nor great. Overall effect is decent but the stats are dragin Gadgetzan Socialite down.
Rating: Below average
red-mana-wyrm is worse compared to mana-wyrm. With Mana Wyrm you already have good stats as 1 mana 1/3 are very good. With Red Mana Wyrm you must cast at least 1 spell if you want the card to be average. Then you need to cast 1 more spell to make the card worth it. The problemis due to Red Mana Wyrm costing 5 mana it is hard to play it and cast spells at the same turn. That means that opponent will have a chance to either kill the Red Mana Wyrm or damage it enough so its ability doesn’t do big impact.
Rating: Bad
streetwise-investigator is going to be a simple 5 mana 4/6 minion which isn’t bad. The stats are what you’d expect from a 5 drop. The effect is not too relevant as stealth is very rare in Hearthstone. Overall just a 5 mana 4/6.
Rating: Average
street-trickster is complete garbage. It is going to die without doing anything because of the 0 attack. Demon tag doesn’t mean anything and spell damage is definitely not worth paying 3 mana and a card for.
Rating: Terrible
Neutral rares
small-time-buccaneer is going to be a 1/2 in all classes except Warrior and Rogue. There are more classes that can have minions, however Warrior has the most weapons and Rogue can get a weapon from her hero power. In these 2 classes Small Time Buccaneer will be good since it is going to be a 3/2 for 1 mana quite often. In other classes it’s going to be a 1 mana 1/2 which is garbage.
Rating: Terrible (In all classes besides Warrior and Rogue), Good (In Warrior and Rogue)
Neutral epics
burgly-bully has nice stats and a neat ability. 4/6 stats for 5 mana minion are to be expected so Burgly Bully already checks out on stats. The effect isn’t too impactful. In Arena decks there are always more minions than spell cards. This means that the effect of Burgly Bully won’t trigger as much as it would do in constructed. If the effect does trigger and you get a Coin it isn’t anything amazing. In later turns Coin loses it’s value as it difference between 6 or 7 mana at turn 6 isn’t too big. In Rogue Burgly is going to be a bit better than in other classes because of cards with combo. Overall good stats with a neat effect.
Rating: Above average
fight-promoter is very great when effect triggers and very bad when it doesn’t. The main problem is that you can’t play Flight Promoter on turn 6 as there will rarely be a minion on turn 5 with 6+ health. The effect is too situational for it to be good. If you manage to stick a minion with 6 health on the board chances are you are already ahead on the board by quite a bit and then you can win without Flight Promoter either way. Overall too situational.
Rating: Bad
defias-cleaner is very conditional but the stats save it. First let’s take a look at stats. Compared to boulderfist-ogre Defias Cleaner has 1 less attack which isn’t a problem at all. The battlecry is very conditional but good when it goes off. Even though deathrattle is quite a common keyword, this card isn’t going to trigger too often as most deathrattles are in the early game. When it does trigger it’s really great. ironbeak-owl costs 3 mana for a 2/1 body which means that silence is worth 2 mana. So it would make sense that when Defias Cleaner silences a deathrattle the body costs 4 mana and the silence 2 mana. That’d mean Defias is 4 mana 5/7 which is amazing. Overall good stats good ability with huge potential.
Rating: Good
weasel-tunneler is just bad. 1/1 stats for 1 mana are awful. This card is meant to be played to you mess up opponent’s draws later on, however it hurts opponent less than you as he may never even draw Weasel Tunneler. Every time you want to make opponent’s deck worse you have to play Weasel which already made your deck worse when you drafted him. Overall nice design idea but bad implementation.
Rating: Bad
blubber-baron is meant for constructed and isn’t great in Arena. For Blubber Baron to be worth it it you need to play at least 4 battlecry minions before playing it. The big problem is that Blubber Baron is bad in the early game, where you want to play your 3 drops. In the later turns it won’t matter how stat efficient Blubber Baron since you are going to float mana either way in the late game.
Rating: Bad
Class commons
jade-blossom is the same as it will be with other jade golem cards – very dependant on the deck. Jade Golem’s get more and more powerful the more Jade Golems you play. How good each card which summons Jade Golem will be is going to depend entirely on how many Jade Golem synergy cards you have in your deck. Jade Blossom is quite bad. The main purpose of ramping mana is to play bigger minions a turn earlier. Therefore you want to gain an empty mana crystal as soon as possible. Jade Blossom is weaker than wild-growth because it comes down a turn too late. Chances are you won’t summon any Jade Golems on turns 1 and 2. That means Jade Blossom will be Wild Growth plus a 1/1 body. Have to remember that Wild Growth is already a bad card in Arena as it loses too much tempo on the board. And being a worse Wild Growth is bad.
Rating: Bad
jade-spirit is going to be quite good if any Jade Golem cards have been drawn before. With no Jade Golems summoned before Jade Spirit is the same as razorfen-hunter. With one Jade Golem it becomes 2/3 plus 2/2 which is worth 4 mana at that point. Unlike other Jade Golem cards, Jade Spirit can be played proactively to boost future Jade Golems. Overall a great card if you have any more Jade Golem synergies in the deck.
Rating: Above average
jade-lightning deals 4 damage and summons a Jade Golem. As with other cards the value will depend on how many Jade Golem cards are in the deck. 4 damage for 4 mana is clearly understatted. Usually 4 damage is worth around 3 mana. So if no Jade Golems have been summoned before Jade Lightning should be worth around 3.5 mana. If there was at least a single Jade Golem summoned before then dealing 4 damage and summoning 2/2 is worth 4 mana. Anything more than that will just get crazier and crazier. Overall quite solid and only needs 1 Jade Golem to be summoned before to be worth it.
Rating: Good
jade-shuriken is bad as it needs at least 2 Jade Golems played before for it to be good. When compared to backstab Shuriken just costs too much. Even with a Jade Golem played before you still need to combo to deal 2 damage and get a 2/2. With 2 Jade Golems played before it becomes good, however it is hard to play 2 Jade Golems before using Jade Shuriken. Overall situational and requires much work for it to be good.
Rating: Bad
jade-swarmer isn’t too great unless you have many Jade Golem synergies in the deck. The main problem with Jade Swarmer is that its a card you want to play in early game to boost Jade Golems in the mid game. On turn 2 Jade Swarmer is very weak and by playing it is just asking to lose the board to opponent. It is also an incredibly slow card. You need to play it, then attack with it next turn and only a turn after that you will be able to attack with your Jade Golem. So it’s too weak for early game and too slow for mid game.
Rating: Bad
call-in-the-finishers as good the name sounds, the card is nothing special. Four 1/1 minions are a lot worse than a 4/4 since they die to the most basic AoE. The murloc tags don’t help much since murloc synergies are rare in Arena. Overall just not as good as a single minion.
Rating: Below average
jade-behemoth is one of the better Jade Golem cards. Jade Behemoth is a fen-creeper which summons a Jade Golem for 1 additional mana. Unlike with many other Jade Golem cards, Behemoth isn’t bad even when the summoned Jade Golem is a 1/1. Fen Creeper isn’t a bad card in Arena and it costs 5 mana. Even though 1/1 stats aren’t worth 1 mana, Behemoth is still not terrible even if there were no Jade Golems played before. Though since Behemoth costs 6 it is quite likely that a Jade Golem was played before which makes Behemoth even better.
Rating: Above average
jade-chieftain is too dependant on Jade Golems to be good. Chieftain is terrible if there have been no Jade Golems summoned before. For it to be good there needs to be at least 3 Jade Golems played before and that is a difficult task to do. In the right deck Chieftain can make wonders work, however on average it is going to be hard to benefit from Jade Chieftain.
Rating: Below average
public-defender is bad as it is going to be hard to get any taunt synergies rolling in the Arena. Without any buffs Public Defender doesn’t do anything and just costs you 2 mana and a card.
Rating: Terrible
freezing-potion is just not worth a card. Freezing a minion for 0 mana is good way to get tempo, however it is not worth sacrifising a whole card for it. emergency-coolant is one of the best spare parts in the game. That is because spart parts are not worth even 0.5 of a card. So the effect of Freezing Potion isn’t even worth 0.5 card and you’re spending a whole card to get the effect The synergies of cards like shatter are not going to be common at all in Arena so play. Overall effect is great for tempo but completely terrible for card advantage.
Rating: Bad
smugglers-crate is going to be very bad. At 1 mana +2/+2 buff is what you’d expect so it would have been a decent card had it not required to have a beast in hand. The requirement to have a beast is hard to accomplish since this is Arena. On top of that Smuggler’s Crate is not even worth a card on itself since we already have so many minions that can buff other minions 1 mana spell just isn’t good enough to cost a whole card by itself. Overall not worth it in terms of card advantage and it’s too hard to consistently have beasts in hand.
Rating: Terrible
cryomancer is going to be 5 mana 5/5 almost every time. There are only few freezing effects in the game currently and it’s hard to consistently have an enemy frozen. You can’t even play blizzard and Cryomaster on the same turn. Even if you play frostbolt and then play Cryomancer then the huge stats aren’t as relevant as if they were on turn 5. The further the game goes, the less of an impact 5 mana 7/7 will do and it’s hard to have an enemy frozen by turn 5. If there is a frozen enemy 5 mana 7/7 is amazing, however the probability of that happening is very low. Overall too situational but the stats are average.
Rating: Average
blastcrystal-potion is very hard to evaluate. 4 mana removal for Warlock seems insane as hard removal is one of the main Warlock’s weaknesses. It heaviliy depends on when you play the Blastcrystal Potion. The sooner you play Blastcrystal Potion before getting 10 mana, the bigger it’s downside. On turn 10 this card becomes a straight up 4 mana destroy a minion which is crazy value. As long as you don’t play this card on turns 4-6, it’s going to be an amazing removal for sure.
Rating: Good
crystalweaver is a 4 mana 5/4 which are good stats already. The ability isn’t too impactful since there aren’t that many good demons that you want to draft. Yet if Crystalweaver buffs at least 1 card it already generated huge value. Overall you have nothing to lose by playing this card since the stats are so good.
Rating: Good
kabal-songstealer is very good. The stats are good and the ability is amazing. Kabal Songstrealer is like a 5/5 minion which casts silence without paying the card for it. Compared to cards like ironbeak-owl or spellbreaker Kabal Songstealer has amazing stats. Overall amazing if it silences anything, still nice if it doesn’t.
Rating: Good
shadow-rager is actually better than everyone thinks. It is a better version of jungle-panther in arena since AoE that deals 1 damage isn’t too common and the health on Jungle Panther doesn’t matter since it will die easily anyway. Shadow Rager should be looked as 3 mana deal 5 damage next turn. It is not going to survive much once stealth wears off but while it has it you can choose when to deal 5 damage for 3 mana which is a good deal. Overall better than many people think but still not good enough
Rating: Above average
alleycat is great card in the early game. It offers a total of 2/2 in stats for a 1 drop which is huge. Two 1/1 minions for 1 mana are great already. On top of both parts of Alleycat are beasts which helps out when you need cheap beast activators for kill-command or houndmaster. It’s also a better version of argent-squire most of the time. Overall just great stats.
Rating: Good
Class rares
jade-idol is bad on it’s own, however it is a great way to boost other Jade Golems. Since this is Arena games rarely go down to fatigue so 90% of the time summoning a Jade Golem is better than shuffling copies of Jade Idol into your deck. It isn’t even bad to play Jade Idol for 1/1 Golem as it is going to boost the future ones and 1 mana isn’t a big investment at all. If the Golem form Jade Idol is 2/2 then it’s already great value. Overall really good for Jade Golem synergies.
Rating: Good
devolve is too rng based and doesn’t accomplish much. Devolving opponent’s minions on average will only make them -1/-1 in stats. In that case it’s almost the same as maelstrom-portal. There will be cases when opponent gets an even better minion from devolve hurting you. Overall Devolve is just unnecessary randomness which doesn’t accomplish much.
Rating: Terrible
jinyu-waterspeaker is strong for sure. It’s stats are worth between 4-5 mana since 4 mana cards usually have 3/5 stats and 5 mana cards have 4/6 stats. So in terms of stats the card is already good. On top of that the battlecry is amazing. Restoring 6 health is a very versatile ability and can be used either on minions or on your hero. On turn 4 Waterspeaker is a good play even if it doesn’t heal anything due to its stats. In the late game Waterspeaker is very useful as it allows for big minions to trade easily. For example with Waterspeaker in hand you can kill a pit-fighter with boulderfist-ogre and then heal Boulderfist Ogre to full health using Jinyu Waterspeaker. The fact that Waterspeaker can heal your hero is very good too. If the enemy is being very aggressive 6 health may be enough to get back in the game. Overall solid stats and very great ability.
Rating: Good
virmen-sensei is too conditional. It’s quite hard to get reliable best synergy in Druid. Even if Virmen Sensei buffs a beast it’s nothing too special. +2/+2 buff is worth around 1.5 mana and Virmen Sensei has stats of a 4 mana minion. All of that means that if Virmen Sensei battlecry triggers you only got yourself a 1 mana tempo advantage at best. If it doesn’t trigger it has quite bad stats. Overall good if there are many beasts in your deck, otherwise bad.
Rating: Below average
gadgetzan-ferryman is simmilar to young-brewmaster in the effect, however it doesn’t have a big flaw like Brewmaster does. With Brewmaster since it is a battlecry you’re forced to use it even if you don’t want to return a minion to hand. With Gadgetzan Ferryman you can choose if you want to use the effect or just play it as a 2 mana 2/3. If you don’t want the effect to trigger, simply play it before any cards on that turn so that combo doesn’t activate. If you want the effect make sure you’ve played a card before this turn. Overall strong, flexible effect and good stats.
Rating: Good
jade-claws are going to be great even if you don’t have more Jade Golem cards in deck. Jade Claws are best compared to stormforged-axe. Compared to Stormforged Axe, Jade Claws have 1 less durability but summon a Jade Golem which will be at least 1/1. If you have any other Jade Golem cards in your deck, Jade Claws become even better. The Claws are a great way to buff your future Jade Golems in the early game since this is an early game weapon. Overall great weapon on it’s own, even better with other Jade Golems in the deck.
Rating: Good
shadow-sensei already has good stats for it’s mana cost. As usual at 4 mana 4/4 stats are good. The effect is very conditional. There aren’t that many stealth minions in the game currently so Shadow Sensei is hard to get value from. If you manage to buff a stealthed minion with Shadow Sensei, it gets crazy value giving 6/6 stats for only 4 mana. Yet that is unlikely to happen. Overall good base stats and good potential if you manage to trigger the ability.
Rating: Good
hidden-cache is just not worth it. +2/+2 buff should be worth 1 mana and Hidden Cache costs twice as much. It is going to get triggered very easily so the confusion value of a secret is not existent there. On top of that it is a slow card since you will have to wait until opponent plays a minion and only then you will get the minion buffed. Only on your turn you will be able to play the buffed minion. Overall not worth it in terms of value and the card is way too slow.
Rating: Bad
greater-healing-potion is meant to be used on face to stop aggro decks. In Arena that isn’t neccessary at all as there aren’t many aggressive decks at all. Because of the Priest’s hero power there is no additional healing required for Priest in Arena. Greater Healing Potion can be used on minions with high health, however they aren’t that common either and there won’t be cases where you need to restore 12 health. This card is just meant for constructed.
Rating: Bad
celestial-dreamer is just crazy value. First of all even when the ability doesn’t trigger, Celestial Dreamer still has solid 3/3 stats for 3 mana. If the Abilty triggers it gets crazy value. Since 5/5 stats are worth 2 mana, Celestial Dreamer kind of Innvervates himself. On top of all that the ability isn’t even hard to trigger as 5 attack is quite common. Overall just crazy.
Rating: Amazing
Class epics
mana-geode is exactly what Priest needs in Arena – strong early game. Mana Geode is crazy good. First of all it has 2/3 stats for 2 mana which makes the card at least average. Then on top of that the effect is insane under the right circumstances. Mana Geode is going to destroy 2/3 and 2/2 minions on turn 2. For example if opponent has a 2/2 on board and you kill it with Mana Geode and then heal it up on the same turn, for 2 mana not only you killed a 2/2 but also summoned a 2/2 for yourself too. Overall low risk card with a huge potential in the early game.
Rating: Good
greater-arcane-missiles are worse than arcane-missiles. The Greater Arcane Missiles are bad compared to any AoE like flamestrike or blizzard. On top of that Greater Missiles can go face which is a very bad scenario most of the time. In Arena you rarely want to have cards as random as this because the goal is to as consistent as possible. 7 mana is a huge investment and if opponent has a board you want to clear and instead the Missiles go face it may just lose the game on point as you essentially skipped your turn 7. Overall too random and there is a huge chance of Greater Arcane Missiles backfiring.
Rating: Bad
kabal-trafficker has good stats on top of an amazing ability. Kabal Trafficker is guaranteed to give you at least 1 demon so even if it dies the very next turn it’s still a very good play. If Trafficker manages to live for a few turns then it becomes insane value. The 6 health makes the card very resilient to other minions and opponent will have to work hard to get it down. If opponent leaves Trafficker uncontested, it can win the game on it’s own easily. Overall good stats insane effect and insane potential.
Rating: Amazing
sleep-with-the-fishes is an extremely conditional card in arena. Without the possibility to combo this card with 1 damage AoE likewhirlwind or ravaging-ghoul it becomes obsolete. Unless you manage to draft couple Whirlwinds and Ravaging Ghould, don’t draft this card as it will just sit dead in your hand for the whole game.
Rating: Bad
finders-keepers is bad compared to i-know-a-guy, raven-idol. Usually discover a card is worth 1 mana when Finders Keepers costs 1 and overloads for 1. An argument can be made that overload cards are stronger than random minions or minions with taunt. That is true however it’s still not worth spending 2 mana to discover a card. Another problem with Finders Keepers is that it messes up your curve unlike Raven Idol or I Know a Guy.
Rating: Below average
unlicensed-apothecary is very interesting and hard to rate how good it is. The stats are clearly amazing. 3 mana for a 5 mana worth stats. In the early game this card is clearly amazing as at worst you will deal 5 damage to your hero. In the late game it gets tricky as you may get stuck with Unlicensed Apothecary on the board, unable to play many minions. Overall crazy in the early game good in mid game and bad in late game.
Rating: Above average
luckydo-buccaneer is just too situational for Arena. The stats normally are bad as they are worth 5 mana when Luckydo costs 6. The effect is hard to trigger as you need to play deadly-poison or assassins-blade which aren’t too common. If effect triggers you get insane value from Luckydo. Yet that will happen rarely.
Rating: Bad
lotus-illusionist is crazy good. The stats are good and their distribution isn’t bad either 4 mana 3/5 is a common distribution. The effect is very flexible. If you need to trade on the board, you can just do the trades as if this minion was a 3/5. If the opponent board is clear just attack the opponent to upgrade your minion. Overall really good and flexible minion.
Rating: Good
Closing
Well that’s all for this part and the whole Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Arena Card Review series. It was really fun to reveal the new cards and now all that’s left is to jump into Arena and give it a go. If you have any questions or regards feel free to leave a comment. Let me know how I did throughout the series. It was rough doing it the first time but when the next expansion hits I’ll be sure to improve my card reviews. Thank you all for reading. Until next time.
Bye.
