Hearthstone: Every card from Whispers of the Old Gods
@Matticus
We’ve finally seen every card in the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion coming on Tuesday. Check them all out below alongside our commentary and info on the game’s additional deck slots and Deck Recipes feature at the end of the column.
Now on to the cards!
The cards
These cards indicate some of the new mechanics coming into play in Whispers of the Old Gods. Unfortunately, the Old Gods have also affected some of our favorite cards from before, so many cards have effects that interact with the new Old God legendaries.
In the initial preview, C’Thun appears as a modest 6/6 that can hurl oodles of damage at random enemy targets — including your opponent — directly. 6 damage might not seem like much, but the damage goes up if C’Thun’s attack gets modified, which some of these cards will do. In fact, 16 cards in the set can affect C’Thun’s attack no matter where he is (in your hand, in your library, or in play).
Scroll through a gallery of cards (the newest cards are at the front) or jump straight into our analysis.
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Sounds like a mill deck here. Who wants to try their hand at making one?
An early game taunt for you and provides C’Thun with a taunt so it can protect you later.
Annoy-o-Tron’s bigger brother.
Much needed dragon addition. Dragon Priest might be even stronger now.
One of the new neutral legendaries — but summoning Vek’nilash requires you to have buffed C’Thun up a few times.
If you have this card as an opener, you can play it for 3 mana on your 3rd turn or sit on it and wait until later on in the game and play it for free alongside something else.
Neat! It’s like having Healing Touch but you can go past your maximum health with it.
A 4/6 charging Druid of the Claw — with Taunt? Nourish granting you extra cards and mana crystals? If this card sticks, Fandral seems like a ton of fun.
The new replacement for our old friend, Velen’s Chosen!
Another Face Hunter staple for sure.
Whoa! Freeze Mage gets another method of dealing with really big minions.
Great Paladin card here. Paladins sort of suffer with lack of early game options and card draw. This helps provide a cheap way to get a new card that’s not reliant on Solemn Vigil or Divine Favor.
That’s a rather nice early game card for Paladins.
Looks like they’re trying hard to push Divine Shield as a thing now.
Neat Priest card actually! Adds much staying power in helps stretches the game further with the extra health.
Wow, this is an amazing card. Almost like getting two cards for one assuming the Deathrattle spits out another minion or something.
The card reminds me of a certain pirate from a certain movie …
Wow! Instantly destroy any minion, buff C’Thun, and get a 4/4 out of it no problem!
Definitely a sleeper Shaman pick, I think.
The new Lava Shock — But it’s on a body this time.
Cheaper version of Shadow Bolt but with a minor Overload drawback.
Might see play in a C’Thun Zoo deck of sorts here.
A card that changes to a completely random minion in your hand, eh? Is it only the first turn or does the effect carry over on subsequent turns?
According to Mike Donais on Reddit, the card will change every turn until you play it.
Ah, the new Hunter legendary card costs only five mana and can preemptively activate a Deathrattle. She’s also a 6/5 to boot. How would you like a pair of Hyenas in play at the same time as that Savannah Highmane?
Oh my. At 5/7 for 6 mana, the Dark Arakkoa just might see play in a C’Thun-based Druid deck. The Arakkoa adds a whopping +3/+3 to C’Thun.
The Flamecaller gives Mages a small activator and board clear. Essentially, an Arcane Explosion attached to a 2/2 body. It seems like Mages are getting tools to help deal with aggro and zoo decks.
This is an amazing Priest card. Mind you, it will only pull cards from your opponent’s deck and not their hand. Great 4 drop though! I expect it will be a staple for Priests.
Wish I could say the same for Demented Frostcaller. This card seems underwhelming more than anything else — I would have liked to see it be made a 2/5 for some additional staying power. I’m not sure if this is a card you’ll be playing on curve (on turn 4) as opposed to late game when you can pair it with other cheap spells. Even then, the Freeze effect flies in randomly.
Might be the new post-Big Game Hunter replacement but it’ll depend largely on what happens to changes and card adjustments. Do you really want your Savannah Highmane to be put in BGH range?
This is a legit Rogue card. Imagine copying something like Edwin Vancleef or Undercity Huckster.
Yeah, this card is Yogg-lite. You do manage to get a free spell that could go anywhere — such as a Fireball to your own face (or your opponent’s). Casino Mage will be hilarious to play. I might even assemble and bring one to a tournament.
Mages get a sweet new 6 drop here. Sure it conflicts with Emperor Thaurissan in the 6 slot, but you can’t argue that having a 5/5 on the board which could potentially turn into a Brann Bronzebeard, King Mukla, or a Shade of Naxxramas is a terrible thing. On the other hand, there is a Magma Rager.
I am speechless.
Once in a while, a new card will arrive in a set that will cause players to tilt their heads to the side and go, “Huh…”. Their brains start spinning and cycling through the list of cards available in an effort to “break” the card and create a new deck type. This might be one of them.
Hrm, is this our new Piloted Shredder replacement? It’s only a 1/1 but out comes a 5/5 if it gets slain. It might not be able to challenge anything, but opponents will have to think twice about when to get rid of it.
One of the new Rogue rares! 3 copies of a card can be powerful depending on what they are.
Talk about slowing down the meta game big time. Soggoth is a much more improved Spectral Knight. Does he close out the game at the 9 mana slot though? Not sure about that because it seems like a card that can help you stall or buy time for you to find your answers.
Not sure about this as card as Dark Wispers never really saw much play either.
Villager should see some play. You’re getting two minions for the price of 1 mana. Might not be anything special, but at least that’s something.
That’s unexpected. A 7/7 for 7 mana on its own is pretty decent as a Dr. Boom replacement among Warlock decks. That Battlecry opens up some serious spell flexibility for players especially around that stage of the game. Siphon Soul perhaps?
This is amazing. Forget Spreading Madness: Yogg here has the ability to steal games for you. On the other hand, he can also steal defeat from the jaws of victory.
.@mickaelmazarin Yes, Yogg-Saron's Battlecry affects all potential targets, including your own hero.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) April 7, 2016
.@maxterdexter CORRECTION! Spells cast by Yogg-Saron will NOT buff Mana Wyrm, interact with Antonidas, trigger Flamewaker, etc.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) April 7, 2016
.@ShadowsOfSense_ Random effects in Standard will only use cards eligible for Standard play, so Yogg-Saron would only cast Standard spells.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) April 7, 2016
.@EddytorMC Yogg-Saron's spells count as being cast by Yogg-Saron, so they shouldn't interact with Gallywix or Lorewalker Cho.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) April 7, 2016
I would totally use this card, but I’m a gambler at heart.
Heh, I know I’ve been annoyed when I get Leokk instead of Huffer or Misha. With Call of the Wild, I never have to worry about having that problem again! The devs have confirmed specific summoning orders so take note!
.@Zaalbeth Call of the Wild summons the Animal Companions in order alphabetically: Huffer -> Leokk -> Misha. 🐗🦁🐻
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) April 6, 2016
Wow! Warrior decks are looking great! For 3 mana, you get to add a copy of each damaged friendly minion to your hand. This is a card that must have been inspired by Echo of Medivh. Blood Warriors will fit right into control decks especially with all the activators available (like the new Ravaging Ghoul).
I’m not quite sure if we’ll ever see this card in competitive play but it’s certainly a pure fun card to build around. Might I recommend using this Astral Communion deck as a base?
The Ancient One
This is literally 30/30 minion that costs 9 mana. It comes into play after you control two Blood of the Ancient Ones at the end of your turn.
Hey, look at that, another ramp card for Druid decks. The added flexibility is nice to have though especially since playing this card on turn 10 and choosing the Mana Crystal will not net you an Excess Mana card. Solid 4 drop option especially since Piloted Shredder is leaving.
Will Twilight Hammer be a potential replacement for Powermace leaving Standard? Probably not! The Hammer has a similar effect to Death’s Bite but I’m not sure if will be as widely used in Shaman decks. Doomhammer is the main weapon of choice in Aggro Shaman but you could make arguments for Twilight Hammer in a more Control oriented deck. The problem though is that Twilight Hammer has a tough time challenging other 5 cost minions. It can’t directly eliminate Sylvanas, Druid of the Claw, Savannah Highmane, or other equally tough minions.
Fantastic Warrior card! With the loss of Death’s Bite in the upcoming standard format, many were wondering if Warriors would be receiving any additional activators in this set. Ravaging Ghoul is a great answer to this. Even though it isn’t a weapon, at least the damage comes with a 3/3 body — For only 3 mana, to boot.
This interesting minion converts and upgrades one of your weaker minions into something stronger. If you have Brann in play, the effect does trigger twice (which means it ends up turning the minion into a random minion costing 2 more).
.@atmuh Yes, the minion will be evolved twice.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) April 1, 2016
.@Mr_Gamehead Chosen minion. The new minion will be random, not class-specific.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) April 1, 2016
Now this is a nicely designed card. It has Taunt. It comes in at 5/5 so it can take some punishment and dish it out at the same time. More importantly, it can be made cheaper based on the number of Totems that get summoned. You could theoretically bring this into play later in the game in addition to some other minion.
Ugh. Murloc Paladins just got a little stronger.
The important thing to remember is that Battlecry effects won’t trigger off of any minions that enter the battlefield this way. Similarly, end of turn effects from minions also won’t activate right away. Got that? Good. Aside form that tiny tidbit, feel free to load up on some big bad minions. If your opponent can’t deal with Y’Shaarj right away, you’ll soon start rapidly generating armies of your own. At 10 mana, this old god’s a little expensive and there’s no guarantee you’ll draw him out. That is, unless you happen to draw …
A quick search shows that there’s a narrow list of minions that cost exactly 10 mana:
The Ancient Harbinger provides a neat way for you to thin out your deck and start setting up your hand for some of your heavy hitting minions — or more likely, to draw a specific minion out to prepare to play it. I’d wager a C’Thun deck would want to include at least a copy of the Ancient Harbinger. You’re paying 6 mana to fish for C’Thun and play a 4/6 body.
I’ll take 3 Fireballs please. Seriously though, this card is going right into one of my Mage decks. Adding three cards to your hand for the price of 5 mana means you can take your game the distance and even pull off something like Fatigue Mage where your games end well beyond you running out of cards.
Hello, Steward! I suspect we’ve found our new Muster for Battle replacement in Paladin decks going forward. Silver Hand Recruits will last an extra hit on the battlefield now.
@KamikazeRay Yes, the Twilight Drake will get the Divine Shield and then its health gets buffed with the battlecry.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) March 30, 2016
Hey, another C’Thun card. The Cultist is a larger one.
Priest players get another card to add to their arsenal of board clearing capabilities, though this one’s targeted towards Zoo and other early game minion based decks. Good flex card to have one copy of. Two of them might be overkill.
It’s okay. Druid beast-themed decks might not be a factor in the current meta game but things will change when standard is adopted along with any classic cards that get changed.
Ooh, another new dragon card to add to our dragon deck. This one’s a potential threat in the late game especially if it’s left unchecked. It starts off at a whopping 8 health so it’ll be able to take a few hits and trade even if it sticks around for one more turn.
On the bright side, at least you’re the one getting the bananas now.
Seems like a perfect counter of a tech card against aggressive minion based decks. At 5 mana, it can fit in into decks as a suitable replacement for Sludge Belcher — except instead of blocking minions and trading, the Apothecary can help mitigate some of the damage taken by the player.
This is not a joke. Rag is back and he’s apparently seen the light or something. Instead of randomly inflicting 8 damage, he’ll now randomly heal 8 damage. You don’t get to control where it goes — I mean, he’s no Tirion…
A great way for Hunters to replenish their hand is with Unleash the Hounds followed up with Infest. 3 mana is quite affordable for this spell. I can see this card being attractive to Midrange Hunter players but I don’t see it going in Face at all. Unfortunately, N’Zoth won’t resurrect any minions that had Deathrattle applied via Infest.
The new Rogue class legendary for the expansion brings an element of randomness to the board. You’ll get a random toxin card — all useful in their own ways —both when he comes into play and when he gets destroyed. Here’s what Xaril might serve up:
- Firebloom Toxin: Deal 2 damage.
- Fadeleaf Toxin: Give a friendly minion stealth until end of turn.
- Briarthorn Toxin: Give a minion +3 attack
- Bloodthistle Toxin: Return a friendly minion to your hand, it costs (2) less.
- Kingsblood Toxin: Draw a card
This new weapon for Warriors is going to be impossible to get rid of. Whenever it gets destroyed, it will go right back to your hand. With 2 attack and 2 durability, it can handle most of the smaller stuff you’ll see but I can’t see it being terrible useful transitioning into the late game.
If there was a way to have the Boogeymonster kill a bunch of minions in succession in the same turn, it would be absolutely terrific. But the Boogeymonster has to directly attack something (and not have a minion run into it) in order to get buffed. This guy looks like a sleeper pick for now.
I can see this card being beneficial in a token deck. If it dies, the rest of your minions get a slight buff. It looks like an elephant.
There he is! One of the big baddies of the expansion! N’Zoth will bring back any Deathrattle minions you’ve lost. This is your finisher. It doesn’t matter if N’Zoth gets taken out before he gets to attack or anything because hopefully you’ll have enough Deathrattle minions to make it worthwhile (like oh, Sneed’s Old Shredder). A few things to note:
.@SpenserTrompke N'Zoth embraces chaos, so the resurrected Deathrattle minions will be random.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) March 24, 2016
.@sporkyreeve @ywoo_dev N'Zoth will raise silenced Deathrattle minions, but not cards that were buffed with Deathrattle or transformed.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) March 24, 2016
I don’t think anyone saw this card coming. It turns all your Warlock cards into a different class, with no way to determine which class or what cards you’ll get as a result. This is the ultimate reset and random deck generator — in the middle of a game! Your opponent won’t know what your game plan is because you don’t know either!
The Huckster is a Rogue class card that gives you a random card based on your opponent’s class. I can see this card being a staple in Rogue decks for standard going forward. It’s also a great value at 2 mana for a 2/2 minion.
Hey look, it’s Faceless Manipulator’s little brother. Doesn’t quite copy the exact abilities of a minion, but the Shambler will copy a friendly minion’s attack and health. Bonus: Comes with a taunt.
For the price of 1 mana, you get a 1/1 minion on the board (who happens to be a pirate) and a 1/3 Rusty hook equipped as a weapon. That’s actually not bad at all and can lead to favorable early game trades.
Doesn’t this legendary just make you want to “Halla” in delight? This 5 mana minion might not close out a game for you, but he does provide extra longevity. With spells like Lightning Storm or Elemental Destruction, the health restored from damage dealt will add up quickly. I’d recommend playing Hallazeal the Ascended later in the game where you can follow up playing him with spells like Lightning Bolt or Lava Burst.
I suppose every class now has access to a Whirlwind-like effect.
The new Warlock epic is a slightly better version of Twisting Nether. I would be careful of using DOOM! on a full board as you’d end up drawing nearly half your deck.
Whoa! The first class legendary is for the Priests and fits in nicely as a 5/5 for 6 mana. Volazj competes for a 6 mana slot against the likes of Entomb, Lightbomb, Cabal Shadow Priest, and Justicar Trueheart. Volazj’s effectiveness will depend heavily on what other minions you have on the field. The best time to play Volazj is if you already have three minions in play since you’ll get those three minions copied plus Volazj himself. I have to stress that Battlecry effects from other minions will not be copied but Deathrattle effects will: remember, Battlecry only works if the minion was played from your hand directly. So if Volazj copies Injured Blademaster, the copy won’t inflict 4 damage to himself because the copied Blademaster wasn’t played from your hand — but if Volazj copies Piloted Shredder and the shredder dies, it will still spawn a random 2 cost minion.
Hey, it’s Sludge Belcher’s younger brother — though, unfortunately, the Tauren’s slime doesn’t have a Taunt associated with it. Not sure if this will be the new standard minion by which all 4 mana cards will be judged, but it’s certainly not the worst of the bunch. Having a 2/3 with Taunt that turns into a 2/2 isn’t that bad, and the Tauren is neutral to boot.
You thought Paladins were a pain before but with their ability to come back in the game with restored health, they’re going to be more troublesome now. I have to admit, it’s a solid bargain for getting twice as much health as the mana you spend. It doesn’t quite help you win directly, but it provides a great come back mechanism if you’re behind.
This is more durable version of Flame Lance. Who knows if it’ll see much play though as Mages already have access to Frostbolt, Fireball, and Forgotten Torch. It goes strictly after minions. Personally, Forbidden Flame appears to be stronger earlier in the game, getting less useful as the game progresses.
Out of a handful of Forbidden spells revealed so far, Forbidden Shaping currently seems like the clear winner. Priests will love this card because it adds some extra flexibility. Instead of using their hero power and passing their turn, now they can get a minion which might help them out. However, it seems that the best time to play Forbidden Shaping is on turn 8 (or if you have 8 mana crystals available) for cards like Tirion Fordring, Al’akir, Ragnaros, Sneed’s Old Shredder, etc.
The servant seems like an upgrade over Scarlet Crusader. Divine Shield guarantees that it has a little more durability and can stick around to take an extra hit. C’Thun oriented decks will want to consider the Servant — since the card is neutral, it can easily slot into any deck.
This Warrior class card provides you with extra staying power if C’Thun manages to get buffed. The Shieldbearer comes in at a hefty 7 mana and is certainly no Dr. Boom, but as Control decks continue to be competitive in tournaments, Shieldbearer merits some exploration. Ten armor is a huge step up and with the number of cards released so far that are capable of buffing C’Thun, something tells me ten attack is easily reachable.
My question here would be if the Klaxxi Amber-Weaver constantly checks the attack of C’Thun regardless of where it is. Based on how it seems these Old God cards work, if C’Thun happens to be an 11/11 but is in your library or hand, the Amber-Weaver should come into play with the activated Battlecry. Although even if it didn’t, a 4 mana for a 4/5 is the same as a Chillwind Yeti. Pretty sweet Druid card and it should see at least 1 copy in Druid C’Thun decks because a 4/10 allows it to trade with most minions that will hit the board around the midgame mark.
I, uh, what? Hogger, Doom of Elwynn? That seems like a bit much, doesn’t it? Normal Hogger, when he was just a menace of Elwynn, would call upon one of his Gnoll friends at the end of his turn. This new pissed off Hogger looks like he’s on HGH (Hogger growth hormone) and will summon Gnolls only when he takes damage. All of a sudden, you’re not going to want a Knife Juggler to hit this guy here. While I wasn’t a fan of normal Hogger, I can see myself include Doom Hogger in some decks at the 6 mana slot. Put it this way, he’s bound to generate at least one Gnoll with taunt at some point. With 6 health, he should be able to generate a reasonable two or three before he gets eliminated.
I wonder if Giant Sandworm is related to Ouro in some form. This big guy gains a Windfury-like effect only if he manages to deliver the killing blow to a minion — except he can do it repeatedly. He does come in at a hefty 8 mana though. Ram Wrangler gets a sweet buff since the wrangler now has a chance to whip this beast out.
We can definitely kiss Paladin Secrets goodbye with Eater of Secrets. The loss of Dr. Boom in a post-Goblins vs Gnomes environment was going to sting but the potential inclusion of Easter of Secrets may just be the knock out blow. He’ll be useful against Hunter and Mage decks that happen to run traps and secrets, too. Otherwise, he’s a pricey proposition if there aren’t any secrets in play at 4 mana for a 2/4 body. Set this aside in your list of tech cards to run.
This 5 mana card appears poised to replace Muster for Battle, which will be rotating out of standard soon. Sadly, Stand Against Darkness does not give you an Ashbringer to go with those five 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits. It’s way too early to say right now if it’ll become a staple in Paladin decks. Quartermaster won’t be able to do much to it either since that guy won’t around in standard.
At 10 mana, C’Thun is one of the most expensive minions in the game, but it takes time to really build up that Battlecry effect. Brann Bronzebeard can interact with C’Thun for double the damage dealt from the Battlecry. Keep in mind that cards like Varian Wrynn which can put him into play directly will not trigger the Battlecry effect — but Varian should bring C’Thun out with the modified stats if they were affected by some of the cards below.
Evil beckons! The Beckoner of Evil is one of the few cards that can buff C’Thun. Her moderate 2/3 stats and 2 casting cost warrants her being an early game staple in your C’Thun based deck. The Battlecry kicks in the moment she comes into play, and she can trade with 1 or 2 minions before getting neutralized off the board. Speaking of C’Thun influenced cards …
If you contrast the Beckoner of Evil to the Twilight Elder, you’ll notice that the Elder needs a little more durability to stick around on the board longer. C’Thun gets an additional +1/+1 at the end of your turn so long as Twilight Elder is still in play. Expect the Elder to be a slightly higher priority target as you enter the mid and late game, because your opponents know that the longer this guy stays around, the harder your C’Thun will hit when he eventually gets unleashed. Twilight Elder isn’t bad for being a 3/4 minion either.
What happened to you, Antique Healbot? The Corrupted Healbot managed to steal Zombie Chow’s effect of providing health to your opponent if it dies. Luckily, this healbot seems made of sterner stuff and comes in at a whopping 6/6, just outside of the reach of Big Game Hunter. It was mentioned on stream by Hearthstone developer Yong Woo that priest decks with Auchenai Soulpriest would absolutely love this card.
Loot Hoarder’s bigger, badder brother just became much more maniacal looking. Other than the looks, the Polluted Hoarder has the same effect, except he packs a stronger punch. Loot Hoarder itself was decent in certain deck archtypes. Control Warrior and Mage decks contained one copy of him to help dig for cards and provide an early game body on the board. With Polluted Hoarder’s 4 mana cost, it becomes challenging to find a slot for him. Standard decks would consider him, since Piloted Shredder will be rotating out anyway. Certain classes have excellent 4 cost cards to begin with, while others could be lacking in that department, and that’s where Polluted Hoarder fits in. He’s not the worst card in the set, that’s for sure.
This guy must be feeling all smug now. He’s probably walking around town just repeating, “I told you so!” to anyone that he hasn’t destroyed yet in his previous role as the original Doomsayer. With Validated Doomsayer, he manages to elude Big Game Hunter for the first time — but in subsequent turns with the 7 attack, he becomes vulnerable to the venerable dwarf. Note that his effect of resetting his attack to 7 repeats, so cards like Aldor Peacekeeper would get nullified the next turn after. Any temporary stat changes would only affect it for that turn before the stats reset back to its original (as a 7/7).
Deck Recipes
This is a neat feature that will benefit newer players or those who are just…lazy (like me). Accessing Deck Recipes is as easy as creating a New Deck in your Collection Manager. Once you pick your class, you can see Deck Recipes on the left. Each class will start out with three recipes: One classic, and two themed. Classic recipes will be made of Basic and Classic cards, whereas themed recipes involved select card types or mechanics. If you happen to be missing some cards from any of the Recipes, the card manager will suggest some cards that you do have available, which you can slot in as a replacement.
Deck recipes should become available sometime early next week are now live!
Are you planning on preordering this expansion? I know I will be once Monday rolls around and preorders become available! I’m intensely looking forward to the upcoming format switch to Wild! It’ll greatly shake up the tournament and ranked game scene. I haven’t played competitively in a few months.
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