Hearthstone: GvG Legendary Cards revealed Analysis

On the opening stage of the first day of Blizzcon, Hearthstone’s first major expansion was announced, along with other Blizzard upcoming projects like Overwatch and Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void. Hearthstone is gaining major focus by both Blizzard’s developers and gamers alike, and this first expansion marks the first big step after the Curse of Naxxramas, released in the middle of the year. Focusing on RNG explosions and the new “Mech” subset of units, similar to Beasts or Murlocs, the new expansion is hoping to add more viable decks and strategies.

Blizzard has revealed the new cards slowly and through many different mediums, mainly their own website and various gaming news outlets. Here, I want to go through some of the legendaries that have been released thus far and judge their impact on the meta-game of Hearthstone and how they will fit into the current collection of cards already available.

Sneed's Old Shredder

The first Legendary introduced in Goblins vs Gnomes, Sneed’s Old Shredder is a neutral legendary that, to be honest, looks incredibly fun. Will we be seeing it in constructed? Probably not. Imagine playing this card, running it into a minion, killing it, and waiting for that RNG to roll, and then out pops Nat Pagle, or a Baron Geddon, wiping out your vulnerable board of minions. As fun as RNG is, this is one of those situations where I don’t know it will be worth the risk.

However, it’s very possible that it might be worth it. Only a few legendaries are actually bad here, mainly Nat Pagle, Lorewalker Cho, Tinkmaster Overspark, Bloodmage Thalnos, and Edwin Van Cleef. Out of 34 potential legendaries as of current, only 5 are poor rolls. Every other Legendary is well worth the mana cost, unless you get screwed over by Baron Geddon, but because Battlecries don't go into effect, you effectively get a free 4/4 with Milhouse or a 5/5 with King Mukla, and ⅞ of the class cards are very strong minions on their own. Heck, this card will be one of those occasions where you’d want King Krush.

As it stands, I could see this card making its way into some Ramp Druid decks, or Control Warrior and Paladin if they’re looking to surprise an opponent. The card will also be great in arena, getting that two for one value! I think a lot of people will just dismiss this card because of how heavy RNG it is, but an 8 mana 5/7, with deathrattle summon a 4/4 or a 5/5 would almost certainly see play. And even more times, you’re going to get an 8/8 or a 4/12. I think this card actually has quite a bit of potential.

Foe Reaper 4000

Really, this next legendary’s description should just read "As long as this minions is alive, your opponent can’t play minions." Because really, that’s what this card is about, absolutely destroying your enemies minions and any board presence they once thought they had. The potential that this card shows is pretty amazing. Just by itself, it can deal 18 damage with one attack. That sort of value is really just unmatched. As I mentioned, this card will be the absolute king of board control.

So will this card be just an instant include in decks that want board control? Well, not really. Decks that need board control generally already have a good way of dealing with unfavorable boards, through Brawl, Flamestrikes and Blizzards, giant taunts or what have you. In addition, if you’re actually playing a board control deck, its very unlikely that your opponent will get enough minions on the board where the Foe Reaper can actually get it’s full value.

However, this card is going to be absolutely insane in arena. In a game mode where board control is the point of the game, the king of board control will reign supreme. In addition, with a potential 18 damage per swing, the straight value is really just too much to pass up. This card will be an instant pick in Arena if presented, and will probably carry a lot of decks to 12 wins.

Mekgineer Thermaplugg

This legendary released by Blizzard is probably the most underwhelming. Although this is the first card to have an effect when an enemy’s minion dies (other than flesh eating ghoul), and as great as it is that Blizzard is offering these unique card effects, this card misses the mark. First off, there should be the obvious contradiction between a 9 mana card and Leper Gnomes, which are almost exclusively run in aggro or Undertaker decks. If you’re running a deck that includes a 9 mana card and Leper Gnomes, you may be doing something wrong.

However, we can look at it another way: Illidan Stormrage, who summons a 2/1 minion every time a card is played, would actually be way better if it summoned a Leper Gnome because heck, it now does something more. So its possible that Blizzard was considering it summoning a 2/1, thought it too weak, and made it summon a Leper Gnome instead. However, this doesn’t change the fact that it won’t be a great constructed card anyway, like in a similar vein how Illidan isn’t a good card in constructed.

As for arena, Thermaplugg will most likely be a decent pick. If your other options are Lorewalker Cho and Millhouse Manastorm, by all means go for it. Other picks will probably be better, it will be interesting to see how the card pans out.

Conclusion

So far, the legendaries confirmed for Goblins vs Gnomes are looking to be unique cards, and they seem to be a great indication of the direction where Blizzard is hoping to take the game. However, we have to remember that when the cards for Naxxramas were announced, Undertaker was largely ignored, and Dark Cultist was supposed to spiral Priest into the position of best class. So our speculations for now are just that, and some amazing interactions and decks will be made that will forever change the metagame. The hype for Goblins vs Gnomes is real!

Brandon Rendina