All of the Old Gods in Hearthstone’s Madness at the Darkmoon Faire expansion

*Unsheathes sword* Faire’s corrupted.

That’s the truth: the Darkmoon Faire has been corrupted by the Old Gods in the next Hearthstone expansion, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, due out on November 17. C’Thun, Yogg-Saron, N’Zoth, and Y’Shaarj — they’re all back! And their new versions gift us with new effects that are even more maddening than before, while simultaneously being clear references to their past selves.

C’Thun, the Shattered

“My grandfather’s deck has no useless cards!”

• Start of Game: Break into pieces. Battlecry: Deal 30 damage randomly split among all enemies.

Pieces? What do you mean?

Basically, this version of C’Thun is split into four different cards — all very powerful cards, by the way. They are all 5-cost spells, and you need to find and play them all before you are able to assemble C’Thun, and have him obliterate your enemies.

How does the new C’Thun compare to his previous version?

The previous version of C’Thun had the same 6/6 stats for 10 mana, and the same kind of Battlecry effect — dealing damage randomly split among all enemies. The difference was that your gameplay revolved around increasing the Attack of C’Thun even when he was not on your board or hand yet, so that, when you finally played him, his Battlecry effect would hopefully deal much more than just six damage.

Now, you also have to do some prep work before you play C’Thun — but that work is finding and playing all four of his pieces. And once you do, the 30 damage will be guaranteed upon playing the final piece of the puzzle.

Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate

“Yogg take the wheel!”

• Battlecry: If you’ve cast 10 spells this game, spin the Wheel of Yogg-Saron.

What is the Wheel of Yogg-Saron?

When you play the new version of Yogg, you will get to spin the wheel. There are six possible outcomes. Five of those have a 19% chance of happening, and they are all very powerful (if crazy) effects, such as destroying all other minions on the board (and having their stats feed Yogg himself), or filling your hand with random spells that cost (0) on that turn.

But there is, of course, a 5% chance of getting the Rod of Roasting effect, in which Yogg randomly casts the Pyroblast spell until a player dies. Hopefully this never happens during a major tournament! (Bah, who am I kidding.)

How does the new Yogg compare to his previous version?

They’re both 10 mana minions with 7/5 stats, and a crazy Battlecry effect that will drastically alter the state of the game upon being played. The difference is that new Yogg has a higher chance of getting a positive outcome for the player that controls him, since the wheel guarantees that a positive outcome will happen 95% of the time — and even on the 5% of the time that you get Rod of Roasting, you might still end up winning. A much safer version of Yogg than the old one, for sure.

N’Zoth, God of the Deep

“It really just wants to cuddle all the creatures of Azeroth.”

• Battlecry: Resurrect a friendly minion of each minion type.

N’Zoth is still the Old God that brings minions back from the dead to serve you again. This time, you will want to build your deck around this card, in order to get the best possible results from his Battlecry — perhaps by adding just one, very specific minion of each type, so that you will be able to ensure they all come back together in order to accomplish some specific goal.

How does the new N’Zoth compare to his previous version?

The previous N’Zoth was, frankly, easier to build a deck around, at a glance. You would simply use powerful Deathrattle minions — of which there are plenty in the game. A huge amount of decks used N’Zoth as their centerpiece in those days, so much that N’Zoth became an archetype on its own (i.e., you would see someone playing “N’Zoth Rogue”).

The new N’Zoth doesn’t seem to lend itself to such a high number of decks, but rather, to some specific ones. He seems more combo-oriented, and will probably only fit on certain distinct  strategies.

Y’Shaarj, the Defiler

“Y’Shaarj made an excellent office intern, doing the copying AND defiling.”

• Battlecry: Add a copy of each Corrupted card you’ve played this game to your hand. They cost (0) this turn.

This Old God will lend itself to decks that make deliberate use of the new mechanic being introduced with Madness at the Darkmoon Faire: Corruption. From what we’ve seen so far, those are all fairly powerful cards, and you’ll get to play them again for free once Y’Shaarj hits the board.

The potential for this card being powerful is certainly there, but we still have to wait until the rest of the Corrupted cards are revealed before we can properly evaluate him.

How does the new Y’Shaarj compare to his previous version?

Well, they still share the highest statline of all Old Gods, being 10/10 minions. The previous Y’Shaarj was, arguably, the one that saw the least play of the four Old Gods, since he wouldn’t be guaranteed to cause a major impact upon hitting the board. Certain very specific combo decks — many of them involving Barnes — made use of him, but he wasn’t as present as the others.

The new version certainly seems like it will be easier to build a deck around — but, once again, it will depend on just how prominent and powerful Corrupted cards end up being.

G’huun the Blood God

“All of the other Old Gods used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor G’huun join in any Old God games.”

• Battlecry: Draw 2 cards. They cost Health instead of Mana.

Is G’huun a real Old God? Well, that depends. According to World of Warcraft lore, he’s not a natural Old God, but rather, an artificial one. And maybe because of that, he doesn’t get to hang out with the cool kids as a neutral card; instead, making his debut to Hearthstone as a Priest-only Legendary minion.

His effect is potentially powerful, but will require some deckbuilding restrictions in order to truly shine. It’s difficult to guarantee which cards you will draw from him, which puts a damper on anyone’s plans to utilize this card for crazy combos. That said, cards like Lorekeeper Polkelt certainly do add some possibilities.

But regardless of combos, if you’re playing Control Priest, you’re likely to have lots of high cost cards, that you can then draw — quick reminder that drawing two cards is always a powerful effect by itself — and play “for free” by using your Health instead of your Mana. Sure, you’ll be taking damage, but it’s not like Priest is not one of the most well-equipped classes in the game for self-healing.

How good are the new Old Gods?

From initial analysis, Yogg seems like the winner. He is the kind of card that will invariably turn the game in your favor upon being played, unless you are extremely unlucky and get a Rod of Roasting that ends up killing you — but the odds of that happening are super low.

C’Thun certainly has big potential as well. His four pieces are all powerful spells on their own, and you will be happy to play them. His Battlecry of dealing 30 damage is, potentially, lethal to your opponent.

Y’Shaarj is a little hard to evaluate until we see more Corrupted cards. But those we have seen so far are all fairly strong, and getting to play them one more time for no cost is, without a doubt, a powerful effect. He will probably be more skill-testing than the previous two, both in deck-building and in actual playing.

N’Zoth has impressed me the least so far. His effect is the kind that will only become as powerful as the other three once someone finds a very specific combination of minions to be brought back on the same turn that guarantees your victory (or something as close to it as possible). More than the others, N’Zoth will require some work to truly shine.

The final entry on the list, G’huun, does not possess an effect that is as game-changing as the other four, but it’s certainly a powerful effect nonetheless. I fully expect Control Priest to make liberal use of this card. It won’t guarantee that you win the game, like other Old Gods cards might, but it will almost certainly ensure powerful plays either way.

Regardless, time will tell how powerful these Old Gods will be. The expansion is almost here; soon you’ll be able to play with these four five ancient, tentacled, multi-eyed, flesh-corrupting beings.

Originally published on 10/26/2020. Post updated on 11/17/2020.