Out of Cards Reviews - Descent of Dragons Initial Reveal #4

The rest of the League of Explorers are up today - as you can see, Hunter and Rogue really got the lion's share of reveals, but the other classes got seem neat little tools too. While we'll need to wait a little longer to see how these classes shape up in this expansion, we can speculate (completely accurately, of course) about what few cards we've got.

Darling she's a nightmare dressed like a daydream.

Quote From FearGralex

Dragon Druid will probably want some big chonkers topping out the curve since they've got Breath of Dreams for ramp, and this is a decent one. How strong this is will really depend on the Dragon pool in Standard- getting Faerie Dragon or Nightmare Amalgam is so much worse than most other options, and how likely that is really affects this card's power level. Fortunately, there are a whole lot of strong cards to drop from this in this set alone, not to mention the Dragons from Classic. I think on average you should expect the Portals to summon a 6/6-8/8, which is quite nice. I won't calculate the exact average stats yet because I'm sure the set still has many Dragons that haven't been revealed yet.

As to where this card will be run, I currently only see it in Dragon Druid, and it does compete with other top ends like OG Ysera and Alexstrasza. I suspect this card will be run if there are a lot of matchups that go to fatigue, but otherwise it may be cut in favor of the Classics.

Smells like warm milk.

Quote From FearGralex

Hoo boy. Blizzard is not playing around with this expansion. It's clear they want Dragons to be strong- or at least viable- in every class. This card is definitely very scary- we had Wild Growth nerfed to 3 mana just under a year ago, and now we have a cheaper version that cycles. I think we can agree that this card is very strong- it's in fact my pick for the strongest card revealed so far. The real question is- HOW strong is it? Is this card going to end up getting nerfed? It mostly depends on the strength of the supporting cast- are we able to build a good deck that happens to have enough Dragons to support Breath of Dreams?

Breath of Dreams only has a nerf-worthy effect if you're holding a Dragon- otherwise, it just cycles for 2 mana. How many Dragons do you need in a deck to consistently have one in hand on turn 2? Well, assuming you mulligan hard for Dragons (which is not always the correct choice) you'll have seen around 9-11 cards on average by turn 2 (including the card drawn by Breath of Dreams). Using a hypergeometric distribution, we can calculate the probability of having a Dragon in hand by turn 2 based on N, where N is the number of Dragons in your deck. Even for relatively small numbers of N like N=6, the probability of having at least one Dragon in hand by turn 2 is about 93%! That's with the generous assumptions we made, but even toning down the assumptions and assuming we mulligan less aggressively, the probability is still around 80%, even with such a small N.

What we can take away from this: Given the very strong Dragon cards releasing in this set (more on that below), it should be very easy to make a strong Dragon deck in Druid that is decent on its own and insane when it draws Breath of Dreams on turn 2.

She was a Jade Explorer but decided to change it after the bad press.

Quote From FearGralex

This is the one, I think. This card alone makes Dragon Druid quite viable. It's a massive roadblock against Aggro that you can ramp into with Breath, and it has enough attack to pressure Control while generating additional resources. On top of that, it can Discover itself! There are a lot of strong late-game Dragons you can Discover to turn the game on its head- Deathwing, Alexstrasza come to mind. Don't sleep on this one- I predict it also earns some spots in non-Dragon focused Ramp decks so that those decks can still run Breath of Dreams.

As a side note, this card is completely bonkers in Arena lol. I predict it ends up in the top bracket.

Dragons with frickin' laser beams!

Quote From Demonxz95

Malygos is back everybody! And he seems to be shrinking a little bit. Looks like he's gotta get more meat on his bones.

This particular incarnation of Malygos has a lot to unpack though. He has a 5 mana 2/8 statline which is actually the very first time we’ve ever seen that in the game. Although his stat distribution is a bit awkward, it can still be useful for trading into small things, which because of his 8 Health, he can survive doing so.

What’s of particular note here is his effect. Malygos will give you a choice of 3 spells out of a total pool of 9. Each of them do different things at different scales and are very efficient for their costs, so there's lots of room for flexibility. Do you need a big AoE? Malygos's Flamestrike is there as an option and will destroy just about everything your opponent. Do you wish you had more cards in your hand? Malygos's Intellect is there to draw a large number of cards at a very small cost.

He can work as a curve play on turn 5 to just get a powerful spell, or as a proactive play to find an "out" to something. He can even work as a finisher by getting you an extra Fireball (an upgraded one at that). His extreme flexibility and strong effects will make him a surefire choice in any Dragon Mage deck. Non-Mage players, watch out for this one. You have been warned!

"So cute!" - EVIL henchman, last words

Quote From FearGralex

Azure Drake is back! :') My last name sounds kind of like "Azure," and my friends used to name refer to Azure Drake by my last name, so I'm glad to see a new card to continue that tradition with!

As for the card, I think it's probably the weakest of the new Explorers released, at least for Dragon decks. Dragon decks are unlikely to run a ton of cheap damage spells, which is where this card shines. I still fully expect him to be strong in Arena and earn a spot in Highlander Mage lists, and we could see him in some lower-curve, non-Dragon decks that are better equipped to take advantage of the Spell Damage!

"Fus Ro Dah!" - Reno, terrifyingly

Quote From sinti

I think this card will outperform everyone's expectations. A cheap spell can always find its way into a Mage deck. And with random generators and Discover effects, you are bound to see this card even if the Mage didn't have it in their deck to begin with. The combo with Mana Cyclone is probably the most obvious one. You recycle a cheap spell and get a 6/6 as a reward, not a bad deal if you ask me. Maybe you won't always get it on the turn you cycle it, but you can easily finish the Quest with the generated spells. The power of this card, or rather into which decks specifically will it fit, will also depend on what kind of spells Descent of Dragons will bring us. I think this card is one of those that could sneak upon us :)

He's never early - everyone else is just late.

Quote From FearGralex

This card makes the eyes pop a little, and although the initial shock has worn off, I still think this card is quite strong. Obviously an 8/8 for 4 mana is broken by itself, so it's all about how well we can make its effect at least symmetrical. The mana crystals you get come in empty, so your opponent will be the first one to get to use their newfound mana. I could see Big Paladin making a resurgence with the addition of this card- you can build your deck in such a way that you can always make use of that 10 mana, while perhaps your opponent won't always have the best use for it. I fully expect to see some Trolden clips, though, where someone drops this on turn 4 and immediately regrets it.

"It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere" - Paladin Scrywalker

Quote From Cable Knight

We have two mediocre cards (Divine Strength and Hand of Protection) combined, provided it's a dragon deck. Seems alright, although I'm still not sure if it's a good enough effect to warrant inclusion in a competitive deck. It seems to have antisynergy with the much more powerful Nozdormu the Timeless, who encourages you to play giant spells and minions. I could see this working in an aggro dragon paladin, but considering the lack of powerful early dragons that deck's viability remains to be seen.