We're closing in on the end of the Year of the Dragon and with that comes a fresh set of rotations. We're going to see the loss of The Witchwood, The Boomsday Project, and Rastakhan's Rumble from Standard as they make room for the new expansions of 2020 and with that comes the loss of some of our favourite cards.
In this mini-series, we're looking back at the cards we're going to miss the most once the set rotation hits and showcase a deck that makes use of that card. Before we get to the cards well miss the most though, a quick recap of The Boomsday Project.
- The Boomsday Project added the Magnetic keyword to the game.
- The great mechaning! The set contained 39 new mech cards, the large amount added in an expansion since Goblins vs Gnomes.
- Legendary Spells! The second time we saw Legendary spells in the game, the first being the Journey to Un'Goro Quests.
- The introduction of Puzzle Lab, a very different take on solo content that really pushed you to think about your plays.
And now, on with the show!
Zilliax
I think it is no surprise that this card would be on the list. Arguably the most balanced card of all times according to some, this guy will certainly be missed. Good neutral anti-aggro and healing options are always hard to come by, and when you have some, classes like Rogue or Hunter can actually dip into more control-oriented archetypes, which is great!
Zilliax seems to provide way too much in one card, but at the same time, what he provides in any given situation is not that much for its cost, which keeps him in check. The versatility is why it just works. His time in Standard is coming to an end and I wonder, who shall be the new king?
Stargazer Luna
Out of every card leaving standard, the one I am probably going to be missing the most is Stargazer Luna. The number of times I've dropped Luna, only to draw my entire deck and combo out is way higher than it has any right to be. There is a bunch of nuanced lines you can do with the card which makes it feel rewarding to play with, as well as the fact being able to play most your deck in one turn being something I have always love doing. As someone who's favorite archetype in card games are combo decks, Stargazer Luna is one of the best draw engines in the game and as such, she enables a bunch of decks to function.
Stargazer Luna also played a prominent role in one of my favorite decks in the history of the game, this being miracle mage. The main goal of the deck is simple, play Stargazer Luna, Sorcerer's Apprentice, and then go off playing cards from the top of your deck. If you have a Mana Cyclone, you can refuel your hand, or if you had a Mana Addict, you can often just kill the opponent the turn you start chaining spells with Stargazer Luna.
Flobbidinous Floop
Admittedly not the card I was expecting to write about when it came time to participate in this thought-exercise, never-the-less Flobbidinous Floop is a card I will miss having in Standard. He found a home in both of my Standard Druid decks - Quest and Treant - and his ability to become a miniature copy of other minions is pretty unique. I like flooding the board by copying Tending Taurens or Oasis Surgers, pounding down the opponent with wave after wave of minions. It can be really satisfying to break an enemy's spirit with one. last. set. of minions after they think they've cleared them all, and Floop was often the necessary ingredient for such a push. He could also be paired with Goru the Mightree for huge Treants, although that one is pretty hard to pull off. And let's not forget the greedy Mulchmuncher -> Sathrovarr -> Floop combo across two turns, creating a seemingly endless number of free 8/8 minions with Rush. His miniaturization of expensive and/or Legendary cards created opportunities that would never be possible otherwise. I used to hate playing the Druid; it was because of cards like Flobbidinous Floop that that has changed.
Whizbang the Wonderful
There's no words for this little guy. Whizbang is basically why I kept playing the game during Boomsday and throughout most of the year. I was lucky enough to open him in a completely random Boomsday pack, and he made everything. It allowed me to play cards I didn't have, and even if the decks weren't always great, they WERE always fun and you might've even gotten some good wins out of it too.
Sadly, he will take the biggest hit out of any card in the game when he rotates out, basically limiting yourself to Standard decks of variable quality in Wild. Just like everyone else, I would absolutely love to bring him to Classic as an evergreen staple. Having him around just makes the game better and more fun.
This is a deck I built with Whizbang the Wonderful in it (truly the pinnacle of deckbuilding).
Annoy-o-Module
There are many cards in The Boomsday Project that deserve a personal mention here so it was very hard to narrow this down. One could very easily write about SN1P-SN4P and how amazing it was that Blizzard didn't see the big issues with adding a card like this to the game (infinite SN1P-SN4P WOOO), forcing them to nerf other cards, but more importantly it paved the way for hope that they'd add new cards like that again mid-expansion.
But Flux you say, you're wrong, Blizzard started paving that path with Rise of Shadows when they added Zayle, Shadow Cloak after its expansion released. Well, I disagree because it still released during that expansion's cycle. Our boy SN1P-SN4P on the other hand released almost a YEAR after The Boomsday Project released and that's the best part.
SN1P-SN4P was never going to be in Standard for a long time, they could have fun with the card. Giving it to everyone made things exciting and alongside the Boomsday Project set buffs, we had a pretty awesome time in Hearthstone. There were so many great things from Blizzard during Year of the Dragon that really improved the game and made it legitimately fun again for myself and many others I know, even if I didn't get to play it as much as I'd have liked.
But seriously, I'm not here to talk about SN1P-SN4P as like I said, that's too easy and... I feel like the comments section might fight me if I say I'm going to miss the card (Spoiler Alert: I will). No, we're talking about one of my seriously favourite cards, Annoy-o-Module.
Some of the best flavor in the game is Mechs. When Goblins vs Gnomes was announced back in 2014 I was crazy hyped for Hearthstone's first large expansion but not just because of all the new possibilities in an era of Naxx's Sludge Belcher and Undertaker, but because of all the engineering focus!
In World of Warcraft if my main character doesn't have Engineering, something feels very wrong to me. Although the profession goes through long periods of arguably being the worst in the game, there are always some fun things to do with it and it can help you explore creativity. That creativity was realized during Goblins vs Gnomes with all the tinkery-goodness we got and shot up to 11 once The Boomsday Project was announced. Yes, this was going to be THE expansion for Hearthstone.
Honestly, they did a damn good job on that front.
So, what's so great about Annoy-o-Module that I had to pick it as my spotlight card? To start, look at the art! Matt Dixon is by far my favourite Hearthstone Artist, owning multiple prints of his work, but Annoy-o-Module really went above and beyond. It continues the theme that Annoy-o-Tron made us fall in love with back in the day but it does so in a package that is strictly better. Double the attributes sounds good enough but when you add Magnetic, it created so many fun and stupid possibilities that were able to put a stop to aggression, save your large mechanic minions thanks to amazing Divine Shield trades, or start off as a solid body for adding Magnetic cards to itself. Personally, I was a huge fan of attaching Wargear to the card for that nice 7/9 Divine Shield Taunt. Wargear was actually an amazing card in its own right, really showcasing the stupid stuff you could do with Magnetic as a feature.
I want to think that Blizzard also believes this is one of the most interesting minions ever added to the game since they decided it would get to be on the limited roster found in Hearthstone's Battlegrounds game mode. The combo-oriented nature of the card is going to make me miss it a great deal.
I can't wait to see which Annoy-o-Card comes next from Hearthstone and more importantly, I hope Magnetic doesn't get vaulted forever because it would be an awesome mechanic to see again, maybe in a couple of years. Ulduar expansion or adventure comes when, Blizzard?
Thanks to Echo, Sinti, Linkblade91, and Demonxz95 for sharing the cards they'll miss from The Boomsday Project once it leaves the Standard format.
Which cards from The Bomsday Project are you going to miss? Tell us about them in the comments below!
If you want to see other cards we're going to miss once the Year of the Dragon ends at the standard rotation takes place, here you go!
Comments
I'm going to miss Zerek and Luna the most.
I loved making infinite minions with Zerek and Luna is just too good not to include in a mage deck
Academic Espionage
I'm really going to miss this card especially since Stowaway and Skydiving Instructor just came out and work so well with it.
It was because of this card that I managed to get a turn 9 Gonk OTK as a rogue.
[Hearthstone Card (Zerek's Cloning Gallery) Not Found]
I got this card when the set released.. i tried to make it work in all kinds of decks. In the end resurrect priest came on the scene to make it relevant, and now it is probably hated by most.. but i enjoyed the experiments with each new set.
Zilly my partner in crime u will be missed. either i was running combo control or aggro the card of perfection was always ready to be played. It shouldnt have magnetic tho.
Dr. Boom, Mad Genius
The card that actually made me play Warrior a bit. I'd imagine it will divide opinions but I'll miss him.
BDP...
I have a very complicated relationship with this xpac. Honestly, we barely felt this xpac's effects until RoS, when year of the mammoth rotated, and everyone realized just how power magnetic is.
I will leave my opinions about magnetic out of this. It's almost easier to pick cards that I am happy to see leave standard vs. what I'm sad to see leave.
This guy made Secret Hunter viable again. I was so excited when he was revealed, as I knew I would be using him constantly in Secret Hunter. And boy did he not disappoint. You will be missed greatly buddy!
Honorable Mentions:
Zilliax (complicated relationship), Mecha'thun (probably getting downvoted for this one), Spider Bomb, The Soularium
Happy to see leaving:
Zilliax (like I said, it's a complicated relationship), Eternium Rover, Myra's Unstable Element, Prismatic Lens, Luna's Pocket Galaxy, Crystology (buff needs to be reverted for the health of wild), the entire Magnetic mechanic!
I came to the comments looking for some Zilliax hate, but this surpasses my hopes. I’m so glad I’m not the only one.
Zilliax is “flexible” in the same way Superman is flexible. He has different powers to call on at different times... but the main reason he wins so much is that he’s more powerful than everyone else.
I started playing this game in March of last year, and I’m very proud to have climbed to rank 1 without ever crafting Zilliax.
(I’ll add that Zilliax isn’t horrible at the higher ranks. Everyone has solid decks, and people are prepared to respond to this card. Ranks 15 and up really suffer from this card’s existence. When everyone has holes in their collection, being able to throw Zilliax into your deck is devastating. It came close to driving me from the game in my newbie days.)
As a Wild player, I wish I could say farewell to Zilliax...
Standard without [Hearthstone Card (Ziliax) Not Found]? But...But what else am I supposed to play on t5?!?
Regarding Whizbang the Wonderful, I'm calling it now: SN1P-SN4P is gonna take his Place in Boomsday Project and he will become Part of the Classic Set.
Big Ol' Whelp
I never realised how grumpy Flobbidinous Floop looked until now.
Funnily enough, most of these cards I'm actually happy to see leave. The only actually interesting card among them is Flobbidinous Floop, which leads to interesting deckbuilding and gameplay decisions. Most of the other ones are just overpowered bullcrap, mostly because of the extremely annoying magnetic mechanic. The big exception of course being the genius Whizbang the Wonderful, which is once of the best cards blizzard has ever made.
Totally fair to be happy that most of these cards leave standard. As sad as I am to see probably my favorite card of all time leave standard, it's nice to have a fresh new coat of paint on the format and have to go back to essentially ground zero (if we ignore the Year of the Dragon cards) when it comes to what decks are possible. That and Zilliax makes me sick to my stomach as you just throw him in any deck and most likely he will have a positive win-rate in it so I'm happy to see Boomsday leave.
As a quick aside, I find it funny how different Boomsday looks now than it did when it first launched. The set used to be mocked for having only 'viable' card in the form of Giggling Inventor, yet now has a large chunk of its cards seeing some form of play, with one of them being one of the strongest cards ever printed. While obviously the buffs played a role in this, I still find the whole scenario interesting.
Unpopular opinion: I am not going to miss Zilliax. He has been played in nearly every single non-aggro deck since he has been released. People think that he was a really well balanced card because he was played so much and hasn't been nerfed but I disagree because it was so strong that if you weren't running Zilliax you were going to lose.
Zilliax to me is very much in-between. There were a lot of fun moments with him which made it a great card and one that will certainly be missed for that reason, but looking at it overall from a game health perspective, Zilliax had some very evil moments.