Overview and Rating System
I'm going to be making a series of posts over the next few days with reviews for the new legendary cards being released for each class with the new Hearthstone expansion, Kobolds and Catacombs. I'm going to give each card a tiered rating, ranging from 1 to 4. Tier 1 cards are cards that I feel are really strong, that I would craft immediately on release day. Tier 2 cards are those that have a lot of potential, and they will probably see ranked play, but aren't necessarily auto-craft cards and might not fit into every deck. Tier 3 cards are your niche cards, those that are generally not all that strong, but may see play in some decks with very specific win conditions or playstyles. Finally, tier 4 cards are cards that I would never recommend crafting. They are usually underpowered, understatted, and simply unplayable. If they have niche decks that they fit into, those decks are likely (in my opinion) to underperform and might just be good for a laugh. With that, let's get right into it.
Warlock Legendaries
Skull of the Man'ari
Rating: Tier 3
At first this card really excited me, but analyzing it further revealed some major flaws. For starters, it's a weapon, and with every class getting a legendary weapon in this new expansion, I think a lot of decks will begin to run weapon destruction cards like Harrison Jones and Gluttonous Ooze. Because of this, it's important that legendary weapons be able to get good use or value even if the opponent immediately destroys it next turn. With Skull of the Man'ari, this doesn't happen. If your opponent destroys the Skull the turn after you play it, you have spent 5 mana and gained absolutely no benefit. On that note, what benefit can this card actually give you? A lot of warlock demons have battlecries that are actually detrimental, such as the discard from Doomguard or Lakkari Felhound, and pulling them straight out of your hand with this card is actually very good. This card can also pull out expensive minions like the new Voidlord minion a few turns earlier than they could normally be played, essentially letting you get them into play for free (not counting the mana cost of the weapon, of course). Conversely, however, the Skull can pull small minions out of your hand (such as Voidwalker) or minions with useful battlecries (like Krul or Abyssal Enforcer). To make a useful deck, then, one would have to only include expensive demons that would be beneficial to pull with this card, and that severely limits your selection in card choices, excluding some cards that are great against aggressive decks, like the previously mentioned Voidwalker and Abyssal Enforcer. While this might see play in some control-oriented warlock decks, there simply aren't enough good demon candidates to make this card work in the current meta, and most decks will drop this card to include more high-quality, low-cost demons.
Rin, the First Disciple
Rating: Tier 4
As much as the idea of this card idea sounds crazy and fun, there's simply no way that it will ever see play in any deck that is even remotely competitive. When Rin, the First Disciple dies, she adds 'The First Seal' to your hand, which is a 5 mana spell that summons a 2/2 demon and adds the next seal to your hand, which is also a 5 mana spell, this time summoning a 3/3 demon. This continues up until the Final (5th) seal, which adds Azari, the Devourer to your hand. While the effect of destroying your opponent's remaining deck is amazing, there are a few glaring problems with this card. One, destroying your opponent's deck doesn't guarantee that you'll win. If they still have a lot of minions on the board and a decent amount of power still left in their hand, you could very well lose the game, since Azari takes an entire turn to be played, and doesn't deal with any of the on-board minions that the opponent has, or in any way prevent your from dying. Furthermore, by the time Azari is played, your opponent probably won't have very many cards left in their deck anyway, since the entire combo cost 41 mana, and will likely have to be played over at least 10 turns, since you can't ignore your opponent's board to cast the seals, or you will die. When you consider that Rin can't be played until turn 6, and that you won't draw her before then in many games, you could be over 20 turns into the game before the combo is pulled off. By that time, the opponent is out of cards, or you have died. Period. While some have suggested using Bloodbloom to get the combo finished faster, this too is unrealistic. The damage this will do to you will be too great, and you will almost certainly die in the process. While this card could be good for the occasional laugh, I simply can't see it seeing any serious play.
Overall, a weak showing from the legendaries of one of my favorite classes, Warlock. Disappointing, but there are other new cards being released for the class that are very exciting. In the next article, though, we will be covering the new legendaries from the Mage class, which show a lot of promise. I'll see you then, and if you appreciated my insight or learned something, please upvote and follow!
I would love to know your thoughts on the Warlock Card: Kobold Librarian.
He's a 1 mana 2/1 that has Battlecry: Draw a card. deal 2 damage to your hero.
I think that it has a lot of potential in a more aggressive warlock deck like Zoolock. It could replace a couple of the more lackluster 1-drops like blood imp or acherus veteran (or patches after april). I'm not sure if you would want to use up a card slot in a control deck for something like that though, since you need a lot of space for anti-aggro cards and late game value plays.
We can at least agree that it's a must for any aggro warlock deck.
However I believe this card will find play in most Control Warlock decks. Right now, Control Warlock struggles in the current meta due to its reliance of its hero power which costs health, something you don't want to lose against aggro. Which is why i believe most control Warlocks will be running the new Spellstone (which I'd love for you to review), which allows Warlocks to survive into the mid/late game due to it dealing 7 damage with lifesteal at full capacity. The only way to upgrade this spellstone is by using cards that make your hero take damage. Since Kobold Librarian offers so much value, it's basically the only way in which you can basically use your hero power, while being able upgrade your spellstone. Plus you get a free 2/1 mana while only costing 1 mana.
Do you think this card solves the issue of taking damage when facing aggro decks? After all, it does the same amount of damage as a hero power, while not offering healing or taunt to resist the aggressive minion push. I think Vulgar Homunculus fits this niche of anti-aggro/spellstone upgrading much better than Kobold Librarian. We also can't forget that cards like Dread Infernal and Abyssal Enforcer should upgrade the spellstone as well! While I agree Kobold Librarian is good value, I think in a control warlock you want 1) late game value 2)anti-aggro (including healing) and 3)demon synergy for Bloodreaver. I don't think Kobold Librarian offers any of these, and draw power isn't really necessary in a control warlock decks. None of the current lists run any card draw because the hero power substitutes for draw cards, not the other way around.
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