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Very cool card but I think this is a big fail. It's mana war and you do gain tempo over it... But you lose big in card advantage. This card basically draws your opponent a card in it's effect. Maybe with the objective spell if the tempo is that high it might work in constructed but I'm screaming avoid at all cost in Arena.

I mean seriously this is 2 mana counterspell; your opponent draws a card that costs 1 more. I'm so disappointed.

woah 3 mana 4/2 with charge thats a good hp

I just realised...these Improved Secrets should in theory count as unique spells and as such you would be able to stack them on top of regular secrets, meaning that you can use both Explosive Trap and Improved Explosive Trap at the same time for a fat 5-damage AoE (unless they somehow coded it in a way that excludes each other which would be a bummer).

I wonder how double Freezing Trap would work though....

INCREDIBLE defensive secret. One of the best ones in the game i.m.o. You probably get to know what spell they tried casting as well. Worst case scenario you make your opponent pay 1 mana for a 0 cost spell or the Coin. Freezing Trap sees play in order to counter minions, so i bet Ice Trap will as well. Especially decks like Questline mage being pretty popular still. We can FINALLY make mages spend at least 1 mana on spells. lol.

I feel like this is good but at the same time somewhat pointless.

Like...we have all this secret support, but little to no actual payoff. I thought this was going to be some huge "do something for every Secret played" battlecry, but instead we just get...more Secrets.

Sure, there's a mini-set still coming and we have an entire upcoming year of potential synergy, but right now this just seems a bit too lonely.

Also not a big fan of the hero power. Just getting Animal Companion as a Hero Power doesn'T seem like a great trade. At the very least they could have let us discover the companion instead of relying on RNG.

I'M assuming we're still getting one more Secret though, so maybe that's where the power is.

Insanely good card. Amazing in Non-questline decks, because of the hero power. Infinite Huffers are pretty good, cuz you know its "always Huffer". And Beaststalker Tavish will be a must-include in any secret hunter deck. Not only that, but i feel like Beaststalker Tavish will also see play in slower hunter decks. Maybe some kind of BIG hunter with Wing Commander Ichman in the future?

The secrets also look very good. This effect kinda reminds me off Malygos, Aspect of Magic which saw play for a LONG time, just because of getting 1 upgraded mage spell. So i wouldn't be surprised if Beaststalker Tavish sees play just because of the upgraded secrets. And i bet we got a teaser for a new secret named Ice trap, which looks like a very solid mix between Counterspell and Freezing Trap.

Also i love how this is the second "stalker" hero card. (Deathstalker Rexxar & Beaststalker Tavish)

An easy tool to get rid of those quest reward minions

I think this card it's on the wrong set, maybe in the year of the Mammoth?

New OTK confirmed. Play Quest, do nothing for 5 turns, play this, then complete quest, then OTK your opponent from 30 by rolling 6 Huffers and a Leokk.

This is one of the better secrets in the game. I think I'd often rather play this over Counterspell, and it costs 1 less. You also get hand knowledge when this sends the spell back which is kinda cool.

Very lackluster card. The improved secrets are cool, but this isn't exactly necessary in Secret Hunter, and any other Hunter deck would rather have the base hero power (Assuming this hero power is random).

This with the Questline will be quite good though. 0 mana Animal Companions that refreshes with each spell can lead to big burst every single turn

Fantastic defensive Secret, improves Rinling's Rifle by a lot because now you really have to spend mana to test for a multitude of things.

That'S actually an amazing (and ever so slightly unfair) disruption tool. It's basically Counterspell for Hunter and unlike Oh my Yogg it can't backfire.

Captain Galvangar is soo good. You just need a few Cargo Guard procs, maybe a Heavy Plate which already sees a lot of play. And worst case scenario you can Rokara, the Valorous for 5 armor, and maybe use the hero powers honorable kill to gain the last points of armor needed.

I feel like Captain Galvangar might give Mr. Smite some competition, as Captain Galvangar generally has better stats as a finisher. It will be interesting to see if Captain Galvangar is easy enough to get ready on turn 6 or if that +3 attack is good enough, otherwise Mr. Smite will remain used as most warrior decks main finisher in standard.

In Wild it wont see play. Not ODD costed, so it could only work in some kind of EVEN warrior. And Pirate warrior doesn't want it, because it generated no armor. Not only that, but Mr. Smite almost never gets used by that deck. They do run him, but nearly always kill their opponent before Mr. Smite hits the field. He's just there, just in case. 

This is the most lackluster Hero in the expansion. Compare this to Bru'kan or Xyrella.

It may be good, it may be competitive, but comm'on: upgraded Secrets and Animal Companions. Lazy design in my oppinion.

Edit: sounds more harsh than meant to. What wantef to say is that I'd like a more unique mechanic better.

Very clearly a freezing trap for spells.  While it's not entirely bad, it feels odd to put a cult neophyte effect on a card and make it a permanent spell modifer.  Obviously really good at disrupting spells that cost over 5 mana, so we'll have to see if this puts a damper on mage and priest stuff.

Okay so Rokara, the Valorous might see play in more midrange warrior decks, probably alongside cards like Captain Galvangar. and it will probably also see play in Questline control warrior. Why? Because The Unstoppable Force is is really cool and flashy weapon, which is probably very good if the meta slows down and there is a TON of BIG support going on. Not only that but your opponent is generally not going to play a big attack having minion when The Unstoppable Force is equipped, and instead probably going to try and bait out weapon swings.

The hero power i.m.o. is pretty good. Deal 2 damage can really stack over time. Losing reliable armor gain hurts, but gaining basicly infinite damage over a lot of turns is good as well. Hunter hero power that can aim at minions, with the honorable kill effect on top is still very good. It's not flashy but still solid.

I think Rokara, the Valorous will see plenty of play, and that people are probablu underestimating her.. at least in standard. In wild sure she's trash.

About wild, she is EVEN costed so that's already a BIG R.I.P. Not only that, she is too expensive for any of the other warrior decks really. And even in a deck like Dead Man's Hand warrior, why run Rokara, the Valorous over a better control hero like Dr. Boom, Mad Genius? Rokara, the Valorous could only see play in some kind of EVEN warrior, which doesn't sound that good i.m.o. Even though that archetype did get a lot of support lately. Lot's of EVEN costed spells. Still ODD > EVEN warrior.

I really wish there was a viable Secret/Spell Hunter deck in Wild, with stuff like Emerald Spellstone, Petting Zoo, Call of the Wild and Zul'jin on the top end. But given that (Odd) Questline Hunter exists, I doubt any other version of spell Hunter will be able compete for as long as that Questline remains.

So I imagine quest works with this Hero, in that case you can make this hero power cost 0 and refresh with each spell.

https://youtu.be/VisdFl547T0

I'll give an example, here's fresh lobster evaluating deep a 50% winrate deck on mobalytics.

What do I see when I look at the list?

3 main decked lure of the depths, literally a 3 mana do less than that shurima cycle card that at least turbo levels your Champs and offers trades next turn.

So yeah I would take those out and I would build an actual list of shadow control spells to deal with aggro first, and then do the deep thing second, maybe I drop the mill for Elise who knows. Do all that and I bet you could get deep to 52% - 53% easily.

So you really need to use your head when you're evaluating these archetypes are they built for ladder? Could you build them better yourself? Then say objectively okay this is a bad deck or not.

Is that foreshadowing for a collectible Ice Trap?

Either just a big meme, or it will see play in some kind of zoolock that wants to unfreeze with Backfire or Altar of Fire? I guess some kind of aggro/midrange fire mage? Either that or Silence priest has to make a comeback, but shadow priest is already more succesful than silense priest ever was.

So, is there gonna be in this set a new Secret called Ice Trap?

Its text should be: "When your opponent casts a Spell, return it to their hand instead. It costs (1) more.

You don't even have to have 15 armor currently. I don't see a that you're going to have a ton of problems activating this effect. I don't think a 9/9 charge for 6 mana is all that bad.