Hello and welcome to another installment of "The Forgotten Wilds of Hearthstone" series, where we discover the potential of four long-forgotten Wild cards, one per rarity. There, we cover the history behind the selected cards, with the intention of revealing Untapped Potential when it comes to deckbuilding. If you missed the previous article, click right here.
Lion or Panther... Hidden Behind the Shadows
Alright then, let the discovery begin with her. Belonging to The Grand Tournament set, she was used within Aggro Druid archetype a lot, especially Token Druid ones, back in 2015 and 2016. Compared to what we have now, she was versatile because of her Lion Form as finisher/trader and Panther Form as sinister striker. If combined with Mark of Y'Shaarj or Savage Roar while in Panther Form, she would deal the damage needed to close out the game for good.
When looking at the current meta, it's impossible to see her at all because of superior options within Aggro Druid decks. However, that doesn't mean you can't build a deck around her. RavenSunHS did an amazing job utilizing her in his Even Druid deck.
If you think that it's the only deck utilizing Druid of the Saber, guess what? There's more, right here.
Oooh... Fire!!!
Who could forget this goblin? Mech Mage, anyone? During the era of Goblins vs Gnomes, which was between 2014 and 2016, his amazing burst potential whenever a Mech is on-board was so scary that he was the reason for rage-quits. As an Aggro deck, Mech Mage was Tier 1 back in the day and it was so strong that even Reno Jackson could often not save you. If you can't imagine how Mech Mage performed, think of current Mech Hunter with even faster approach.
We shouldn't be surprised that someone was able to combine the power of the past and the future to build an updated version of Mech Mage. Have a blast with the deck from MattMo.
Want to blast off further? Look no more, click right here.
Loads of Spells
Precious Mana Cyclone in a spell-form... Originated in The Grand Tournament set, this card was printed at the wrong time, where it was never shone under the spotlight. During its lifespan:
- Midrange Hunter was dominant and Hunter didn't need to generate resources to close up games. Savannah Highmane, Houndmaster and Kill Command did the job back in the day.
- Control Hunter was never a thing, when it came to viability and resource generation until Deathstalker Rexxar was printed. Thus, this spell stayed irrelevant due to immense potential of Rexxar himself, compensating for both shortcomings.
However, what really surprised me was that Lock and Load was never discovered after Spell Hunter came into fruition:
- With lots of spells in your hand, you can start out cycling your spells for any Hunter card (Minion/Hero/Spell/Weapon) you can fetch, whereas you can only fetch spells via Mana Cyclone.
- Also, you can start cycling your spells as Hunter for card generation anytime you want via Lock and Load, while you need to wait for Sorcerer's Apprentice and Mana Cyclone to do so. Thus, you have more freedom to do what you want as Hunter than as Mage.
In short, now is the time to play Spell Hunter with a solid value generation, which is really fun to play.
More decks are Locked and Loaded here!
Where's His Cut Cat?
Who cares about his cut? His cat is here. Belonging to Goblins vs Gnomes set, he didn't see much play when first introduced, despite his unique ability that Hearthstone players never saw before and his beefy 5/8 stats. At that time, his stats made him one of the best 6-Mana minions in the game. However, there were reasons he didn't see much play at all, at least until Whispers of the Old Gods set was released:
- Before Whispers of the Old Gods set, meta was based around Aggro decks such as Face Hunter (where Leper Gnome still had 2 Attack and Arcane Golem had Charge), Midrange decks from Hunter/Shaman/Paladin classes and Exodia/Freeze Mages. If you want to learn more about this era, I advise you to check old pages of HSReplay or TempoStorm.
- Thus, meta was much faster compared to what we have now. Since Trade Prince Gallywix excels vs Control decks, he didn't steal the spotlight enough. Rogue players didn't play him because he was poor fit for the prevalent Tempo/Miracle archetypes. Edwin VanCleef, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Cold Blood, Conceal and Leeroy Jenkins were base cards back then.
- Also, if you have played him when you were against Tempo/Miracle Rogues or Exodia/Freeze Mages, it was very likely you signed your death warrant. Sure, you received every spell they played thanks to his ability but at the cost of giving them Gallywix's Coins, which caused your plan to backfire because:
- Cycling those coins via Gadgetzan Auctioneer gave Tempo/Miracle Rogues more free Mana than expected, which resulted in cycling their whole deck with ease and ending up with Concealed 30/30 Edwin VanCleef that was ready to beat you up next turn.
- Free coins would help Exodia/Freeze Mages bursting out their spells to your face.
With time, these decks became less relevant due to balance updates and I encountered this card a handful of times, compared to let's say, 1 out of 200 games. It's still rare to face him but it's better than never. This card was my 3rd legendary opened up in a pack and I kept him ever since. Glad I made that choice and here's why: He really fits well in Highlander Rogue decks and Thief Rogue decks. If you want both though, here is what I came up with.
Want to see him more in action? Well, what are you waiting for? Click here right away.
That's all for today for The Forgotten Wilds of Hearthstone. Let us know in the comments which cards don't get the time of day anymore and until next time, peace out and stay tuned for more!
Comments
I never thought any of my decks were to get featured ever,, I actually uploaded this deck as part of my OutOfCards "Pledge"..... this is so awesome!
Thank you ooc (Esparanta) for this, seeing my deck here encourages me to upload more unique-ish decks :D
I wonder if there might be some crazy OTK strategy with Goblin Blastmage. What about Pocket Galaxy into Brann, Blastmage, Blastmage, Echo of Medivh, then do it again next turn?
What about Shadowfiend? I always though it was an interesting card but never saw a place for it.
The only place I've seen it played was in some deck WowHobbs made with Lorewalker Cho and a lot of cycle. I forget exactly what the point of the deck was, but I remember Shadowfiend was in it.
Shadowfiend is still consistently played in some priest decks, it's a solid 3 drop, just not very competitive since there are better 3 drops
I can't understand how you can say the fact that it's still consistently played, if at all. The last time I saw this card was around the beginning of TGT, where Priest players were testing/theorycrafting Control Priest decks. Also, the reason why it didn't see much play at all, at least for me that is, was that Emperor Thaurissan being a viable choice when it comes to mana-reduction. I will be honest with you, your statement is contradictory...
That I agree with you. You know what...
Shadowfiend will take the spotlight for next "The Forgotten Wilds" series thanks to request from frosthearth and I agree with his whole statement. Its mana-reduction is only useful when you can't use Emperor Thaurissan at all and there is only one deck I can think of using this card well: Odd Priest. Assuming Shadowfiend isn't dead or transformed by any means next turn, it can act as a bridge, closing the mana-gap between odd-costed cards: You play it on turn 3, you draw 5-Mana card on turn 4, then you can play that card right away if possible.
I always wished for a Plot Twist kind of effect to combo with Shadowfiend, but I lost all hope when it got printed for warlock and when card draw was stated as a limitation for the priest class in the class identity breakdown.
These are quite fun. I think the link to the previous link is awesome. It may be nice to retrofit old "Forgotten Wilds" with "next article" link for navigation purposes. I hope you do many more of these. (Take your time... we are in no rush so please don't charge the next article too quickly.)
I'm delighted that you enjoyed "The Forgotten Wilds" series and no worries, they will be continuous.
If there is any card you wish to see, feel free to write down here.
Haha that Even Druid! I still have to check if SoU brought anything good for it.
reading these articles makes me nostalgic for a meta of hearthstone before I started playing.
[Hearthstone Card (Tess Graymane) Not Found] would be good in Rouge deck
That's some colorful typo ^^
Kel'Thuzad. 'Nuff said.
EDIT: Turns out that 'nuff was not said. I would love to see a deck using Kel'thuzad as he was a really cool card. I would try to combo him with Reincarnate to get 2 Kel'thuzads, because then it was incredibly hard to get rid of them (especially if you had Taunts on the board, since they would be resurrected twice by the 2 Kels).
.. but you haven't said anything @Hordaki
I too can name drop ^^
Fair enough. The end of the article just said to mention cards that don't get the time of day anymore and I think that applies to Kel'thuzad.
He still sees some play in certain Big Priest decklist if I remember correctly, and although quite niche, he is found in most Big Rogue decklists.
He also sees play consistently in darkest hour warlock, which is kind of a meme deck but also insane if you pull off the combo t3-t5
On top of that, I use him in my N'Zoth builds, where he kinda acts as semi-N'Zoth. Let's say you destroyed your Sneed and Piloted Shredder. If followed up with KT, extra bodies coming from these Mechs and themselves will point out as to why I utilize him a lot.
So, he is still played in a variety of decks I faced but spotlighting him might be an option though.