Iv seen many ppl complain about PVE content not being free anymore. If you stop and think about what you are getting in return for your investment, it is actually pretty decent.
There will be PVE content consisting of 5 chapters. You get the first chapter for free.
Each chapter (after the first one) will cost 700 gold.
Each chapter (including first one) will reward you with 3 RoS packs for its completion.
Completing all 5 chapters reward you with a card back and a golden Classic pack.
Owning all 5 chapters will reward you with a golden Zayl, Shadow Cloak.
So lets sum this up:
You pay 2800 gold total (or $20) and you get 15 RoS packs, 1 golden Classic pack and a golden copy of Zayl, Shadow Cloak.
So compared to previous, free PVE content, where the reward was a card back only, for basically 1300 gold (or literally $0 lul, since 15 packs in shop cost $20), you get a golden Classic pack and a golden Zayl, Shadow Cloak. Obviously the gold price is not as favourable as real money, but i think in the end it is ok, since we have the option to use gold in a first place.
I'm sad that Rafaam is a Warlock card :(. I would have loved to play him with other champs, like Priest. Now I just have to be lucky to steal the card from my enemy :D.
Animal companion looks like a random inclusion... why not another mech instead? Even something like Nightmare Amalgam looks better. Or another activator for your bombs
Also two 1-drops look quite inconsistent for a deck that wants to curve out.
Great post! It has all info about upcoming expansion, cards released and also cards that are rotating. Most importantly everything is up to date. Keep up good work.
I just tried to create a theorycraft deck around Kalecgos. After I hit the save-button, an server error occured (500). The only things out of the ordinary were two cards from the new expansion and a rather lengthy name for the deck (Greedy Big Spell Freeze Mage). Any help would be appreciated!
Edit: Whoops. It seems like the deck was created after all - five times. Only one of them appears to contain cards, since the other four cost 0 dust. None of them can be opened, all lead to the server error. You can find them searching decks with the filters for class (mage) and decktype (theorycraft).
Thanks for the recommendation of Missile Launcher, Sinti. I haven't put it in on purpose so far, because it's to slow (as you already stated). But the rotation of Void Ripper really worries me, since it not only triggers the bombs, but also has quite some surprise burst potential (ignored magnetized Framebots can easily reach 8-10 hp). Missile Launcher could help with the bombs, while I also considered Crazed Alchemist... which is cheaper, but gets off only one bomb. Meh, we probably really should wait for more new cards, as Sylicas suggested.
It could be pretty good actually with myra's, doesnt need to be t7, it could be later, still really nice. I saw justsaiyan's post on twitter about it. Warrior is losing reckless flurry, Mage is losing dragons fury, so only removals for this would be brawl/twisting nether/blizzard into flamestrike/pyro+equality/hysteria or new scheme cards. I probably forgot lot of removals but still its not easy to remove those, especially because opponent might already use some of those earlier, or they wont have it for later because they used it on 7 mana card.
Considering that pirate tempo rogue is losing only faldorei and vilespine slayer(which is only 1 copy in deck) i think Chef Nomi would be great addition to this deck.
I really like this card. Although it's very random it could lead to some interesting matches. Rest of my deck is trash and running out of cards? This card's got your back lol. Crazy to see the golden monkey reworked into a standalone class l legendary. This is much stronger stat-wise though.
Really curious for the rest of the mage cards. Maybe heropower stuff (fire eater, shrine?) and some freezing can cary you to turn ten... I wonder if a deck containing Jan'alai, Kalecgos and maybe Alex and / or Maly would be too greedy.
Ah! I'm very hopeful for this expansion and this year. I'm loving the storytelling, I'm very excited. I just hope that thay keep on telling us what this Evil League is doing.
Loving Kalecgos, such an impactful card and even the Spellward Jewelery (she seems a strong tech card) and also loving the lackeys.
I was wondering...they said that many other lackeys will be added trough all the years of the Dragon and as I can see these first five lackeys are connected to our well knowkn evil characters: ethereal, kobold, goblin, faceless (I assume that this one concerns the tentacles behind M.me Lazul) and witchy. I think that the next 2 expansions will bring many other important and carismatic characters that will have a connected lackey.
I'm happy and I hope to see many more strong or mad/enjoyable cards.
It makes no mention of upgrading only whilst in hand! pulling it on turn 20 and having a full board nuke would be pretty mad. (a cheaper twisting nether essentially)
Arch-Villain Rafaam (2): Excellent base line scores, but the battlecry can be awkward. It's a situational play in some spots, and of course the RNG can be immense depending on the available Legendaries. Building a deck around the card is possible if you aim for a smaller deck, and have this be your value engine in the late game.
Chef Nomi (3): You draft Blazecaller from time to time as a 7 mana 6/6. This card is definitely draftable depending on it's bucket competition.
Kalecgos (1): A lot of the bad Mage spells are cycling out, so this card potentially gets a better discover pool. I'm comparing it to Ysera, Sindragosa, or a 4/12 Dragon + [Hearthstone Card (Primordial Gylph) Not Found], which puts this into the upper echelon of dragon Legendaries.
Swampqueen Hagatha (1): Slow tempo play initially but potential game breaking swing afterwards. The spell combinations can be insane. I'd compare the card to Kazakus without the deck restriction, but with a more restrictive generated card. This should be a great card in Arena.
Oblivitron (5): This card is probably un-draftable. Not only is it's effect a deathrattle meaning it's likely that you won't have the initiative to trigger it, it's grossly over costed/under statted and the effect is tribe only. There's just too many things that need to happen for this card to work out and in Arena, that's not a consistent strategy.
Jepetto Joybuzz (4): As a 8 mana 6/6 draw 2 cards, this would be pretty good, but my thought is that the 1/1 pulls from your deck make this card worse on average.
Fel Lord Betrug (2): Can tap to get immediate impact, although for 10 mana it's not going to be strong enough. The effect is strong if it survives one turn since you draw 2 cards per turn as Warlock potentially. Definitely a must remove threat.
Commander Rhyssa (2): Body is fine as a 3-drop. The secret synergy is very limited upside.
Nozari (4): Seems nearly un-draftable. 16 stats for 10 mana is awful so the heal effect has to be heavily in your favor to make this worthwhile.
Scargil(3): 4 mana 4/4 is okay. The murloc synergy will likely have minimal impact on it's overall effectiveness.
Epic
Lazul's Scheme (3): Potentially quite good. The effect is end of turn only so it's possible to steal something and have it revert back to full stats at end of turn. It's a horrible top deck and requires turns and other cards to make it good, but there's some potential here.
Dragon Speaker (4) - This card is probably average if it hits 1 dragon. Good dragons already have tons of stats, so we will need some more initiative from future dragons to make up for de-tempoing into a 5 mana 3/5.
Crystal Stag (2): I'm betting there will be more Druid heal cards coming in this expansion. This card seems really strong if you can get the double copy. 4 attack on T5, while a bit weak, is still great at helping you catch up from a weak opener.
Muckmorpher (4): Needs to hit a strong deathrattle or a minion with some good abilities like Taunt/Divine Shield or Rush. Otherwise it's a 5 mana 4/4.
Mana Cyclone (2): Draw one card seems OK. Draw more will be insane. It's a small investment for some extra late game value. A bit deck dependent.
Shadowy Figure (3): Card seems borderline bad. First you'll need another Deathrattle on the board to make this worth anything otherwise it's a 2 mana 2/2 which is slightly below average.
Unseen Saboteur (3): Could be interesting, i'm cautious with the average rating since this could be a potentially game losing card. Ex. Play this into Mind Control, etc.
Arcane Fletcher (4): Other then Hunter I don't see this card being draftable. Even in Hunter it's rarely going to be correct to draft this.
Azerite Elemental (3): Probably playable just as a 5 drop, but the delayed spell damage is a bit of a pain, but it's a nice boost if it lives 1 turn.
Darkest Hour(5): Overcosted and RNG dependent as well as situation dependent. Un-draftable.
Jumbo Imp (3): Not a huge fan of this, but it's still a big drop and has some synergies in this class. Playable demons seem to be more common as well.
Magic Carpet (4): The ability shouldn't go off that often, as a 3 drop the 1/6 is not good enough most of the time.
Portal Overfiend (3): Should be decent, it's unstatted but the 2/2s have value and initiative when drawn.
Waggle Pick (2): First 4 damage weapon for Rogue. The deathrattle is only bad when the weapon gets oozed. Otherwise it's controllable and more often then not, a benefit as opposed to a draw back.
Whirlwind Tempest (5): Undraftable. There isn't many windfury minions to begin with.
Witch's Brew (5): Near undraftable. It's flexibility does not make up for the fact that healing is generally not worth the card by itself.
Rare
Forbidden Words (2): I think this card is really cool. It can be insanely busted ex. 4 mana kill 4/12 Dragon. but requires you to spend your mana properly before hand. It's really interesting and should create some skillful turns.
Hagatha's Scheme (2): It's an unpredictable board clear for 5 mana. A horrible top deck of course. If you have this from your opener, it's basically a 5 mana Twisting Nether in the late game, which is great, but will break even at 4-5 damage. I think it's potentially insane, but it's unpredictability dampers my expectations a bit.
Togwaggle's Scheme (4): At 1 mana, it's draftable as a combo activator or a card that beefs your draws. It'll come down to what bucket this card is in, but right now, it's not something you want to put a lot of priority in.
The Forest's Aid (2): A lot of value packed into this card. Is it as good as Violet Wurm ? Probably not. The split bodies are probably worse most of the time compared to a single large body, and the resulting value card is another 8 mana to spend. Is it good ? Yes.
Sludge Slurper (2) - Really good one drop that can be played T1 into T2 Lackey if needed. Nothing overly fancy about the card, but nice card to fit curve and give some value.
Mass Resurrection (4) - Card seems ridiculously awful if you have tokens or smaller minions spawns. We've seen this type of card before with the Priest Spellstone. It's easier to play, but at 9 mana, it's really hard to justify this card in Arena.
Hecklebot (4): The old Deathlord was draftable in arena because decks usually had some poor vanilla minion quality, and the effect was a Deathrattle. This one costs more, and it's effect is a Battlecry which is a bit too much downside to make this good.
Arcane Watcher (5): Better then Ancient Watcher, but that doesn't mean that much.
Convincing Infiltrator (2): It's similar to Gloomtrogg 1/5 taunt poison minion in strength. It's good but it shouldn't be compared to Obsidian Statue.
Hunting Party (5): Undraftable. Need 3 hits to break even to pre nerf Nourish, as a Hunter, this seems like an impossible feat on T5 or later.
Impferno (3): Arcane Explosion with a Demon buff. It's okay as a small AOE with occasional upside.
Kirin Tor Tricaster (3): Worse then Cosmic Anomaly. The body is bad on T4, and the spell restriction hurts it's ability to be played with big spells on the same turn.
Mad Summoner (5): It's a net 3/3 for 6 mana on an empty board, so you'll need to find a way to remove their board and preserve your board to make this worth while.
Mysterious Blade (2): Early initiative for Paladin is great. It's a fine weapon, and the secret set up on T1 is very possible.
Portal Keeper (3): Slightly worse then it's 5/6 brother, but still a viable pick and has potential to trade up as well.
Recurring Villain (2): Small stat discount for a huge value and tempo play if you can squeeze +1 attack. It's also reoccuring so effects like Stormwind Champion make it a huge threat.
Sunreaver Warmage (3): This is going to be average in some classes but goes up in other classes. Its a huge tempo swing if it goes off.
Sweeping Strikes (2): I think this card is very powerful. It'll potentially 2 for 1 easily. This will be an interesting 1 off in Warrior decks. Be mindful of your positioning against Warriors!
Tunnel Blaster (4): This seems worth then Abomination. It's more expensive, harder to kill off and comes in the late game where 3 damage is less impactful.
Underbelly Angler (2): Very powerful card for Shaman if they can pull this off. Almost no downside to this card with potential huge upside.
Underbelly Ooze (5): Undraftable unless you're Paladin or have access to buffs. Summoning 2x 3/4s (after receiving 1 damage) is not winning the game for this mana investment.
Common
Evil Miscreant (2): Poor stats, but the Lackeys are quite strong. In Rogue, this should be easy enough to trigger so you'll get more options come back afterwards.
Hench-Clan Hogsteed (2) - Nice neutral ping and leaves a little 1/1 for extra value. Seems decent.
Bronze Herald (1) - 2x cards attached to a 3 mana card is great. It's also a Paladin card which struggles with card refill. The fact that this card also doesn't sacrifice it's attack/mana stat and gives you plays for the following turn (T3 into T4), makes this card really good. You compare this card to Igneous Elemental and you'll see what the current card pool has as a comparable.
Crystal Power (2): Seems great. Not as good as Living Roots, but a different type of flexibility for this card.
Walking Fountain (1): Should be a premium card. Occasionally killing 2 things, healing for a bunch and leaving a 4/X body behind seems really likely. It's an Elemental to boot.
Ray of Frost (2): I like the flexibility from this card. It's basically a 2 mana - 2 damage card in a pinch, or you can double freeze 2 minions and push for lethal.
Burly Shovelfist (1): For what it is, it's great. Whether the meta will allow taking multiple 9 drops, we'll see. If anything it'll benefit from the lack of large removals in the upcoming meta.
Dalaran Crusader (1): Great card, will be meta defining 5 drop for this set.
Daring Escape (5): Un-draftable. Significantly worse then Shadow Step, which is already a fringe card to draft.
Eccentric Scribe (1): Neutral Savannah Highmane. It's a 6 drop so you can't take a bunch of these in a deck. Its comparable to Violet Wurm or Piloted Sky Golem. Candidate for best neutral in the new set and potentially meta defining.
Faceless Rager (2): It'll be good, but don't mistaken it for a 3 drop.
Flight Master (3): It's draftable, but I have a bad feeling about this card. It's not a great turn 3, because your best result is a 3/4. It also allows smaller minions to trade up.
Hench-Clan Shadequill (1): This card is a nightmare. It's in the class that will benefit from it the most, and hurt from it's draw back the least. 7 hp will mean this thing kills a bunch of stuff and gets healed to stabilize the early game for Priest. The lack of poisonous minions in the meta means this thing will almost never go down to 1 card. It's insane.
Heroic Innkeeper (3): Need 2 minions for this to be good, anything more pushes it into premium territory.
Magic Dart Frog (4): Are you okay with a 2 mana 1/3 ? The ability isn't even worth considering if it's not the optimal play.
Toxfin (3): I think sure this card is going to be better then expected. It combos well with Hench Clan Hag and of course Shaman has plenty of murloc triggers. It's has minimal downside as well as a 1 mana 1/2.
Unsleeping Soul (3): A worse Molten Reflection. The silence effect feels like a negative, but will likely not matter most of the time.
Ursatron (3): Fair stats that draws a card seems fine.
Vicious Scraphound (3): It's cute, and should net you at least 2 armor for it's understatted body.
Violet Spellsword (3): 1 spell to break even, 2 spells to be good, 3 spells to be excellent. Bit tough, but probably overall an average card.
Violet Warden (2): Seems good actually. There's not that many taunts in this expansion, and this one is solid with 7hp and spell bonus which is relevant at times.
Rise of Shadows PVE content value
(sources: here and here)
Iv seen many ppl complain about PVE content not being free anymore. If you stop and think about what you are getting in return for your investment, it is actually pretty decent.
So lets sum this up:
So compared to previous, free PVE content, where the reward was a card back only, for basically 1300 gold (or literally $0 lul, since 15 packs in shop cost $20), you get a golden Classic pack and a golden Zayl, Shadow Cloak. Obviously the gold price is not as favourable as real money, but i think in the end it is ok, since we have the option to use gold in a first place.
That sounds like a pretty damn deal to me!
Very true. Golden Classic packs have its own, separate pity timer from the regular, non-golden Classic packs, do keep that in mind while opening.
Another Hearthstone Team Member Joins Second Dinner
Let's hope they make something truly incredible!
Boom Hunter (Legend)
What are you gonna replace void and fungal with once they rotate?
Dragons in my Kaboose!
That seems pretty darn strong! Imma have to try that
Rise of Shadows
Very excited for this expansion!
Also, thank you for the guide - it's well written and easy to follow!
Rise of Shadows
HYPED!
Rise of Shadows
I love the design of your website rly nice to look at and rly easy to find what you need. Great Work!
New Hearthstone Expansion Revealed - Rise of Shadows!
I'm sad that Rafaam is a Warlock card :(. I would have loved to play him with other champs, like Priest. Now I just have to be lucky to steal the card from my enemy :D.
New Hearthstone Expansion Revealed - Rise of Shadows!
Hagatha's scheme seems very strong if you manage to keep it in hand for at least 2 turns. Might replace Volcano better than expected …
Boom Hunter (Legend)
Animal companion looks like a random inclusion... why not another mech instead? Even something like Nightmare Amalgam looks better. Or another activator for your bombs
Also two 1-drops look quite inconsistent for a deck that wants to curve out.
Rise of Shadows
Great post! It has all info about upcoming expansion, cards released and also cards that are rotating. Most importantly everything is up to date. Keep up good work.
Reporting Bugs & Other Issues
I just tried to create a theorycraft deck around Kalecgos. After I hit the save-button, an server error occured (500). The only things out of the ordinary were two cards from the new expansion and a rather lengthy name for the deck (Greedy Big Spell Freeze Mage). Any help would be appreciated!
Edit: Whoops. It seems like the deck was created after all - five times. Only one of them appears to contain cards, since the other four cost 0 dust. None of them can be opened, all lead to the server error. You can find them searching decks with the filters for class (mage) and decktype (theorycraft).
Rise of Shadows Card Pack Giveaway
Does it qualify as plagiarism if I add a deck guide which I originally posted on another site?
Mech Hunter in standard after rotation?
Thanks for the recommendation of Missile Launcher, Sinti. I haven't put it in on purpose so far, because it's to slow (as you already stated). But the rotation of Void Ripper really worries me, since it not only triggers the bombs, but also has quite some surprise burst potential (ignored magnetized Framebots can easily reach 8-10 hp). Missile Launcher could help with the bombs, while I also considered Crazed Alchemist... which is cheaper, but gets off only one bomb. Meh, we probably really should wait for more new cards, as Sylicas suggested.
New ROgue Minion - EVIL Miscreant
Tokens are always welcome in rogue, 1 mana cards for combo activators which are powerfull, i like it.
New Neutral Minion - Chef Nomi
It could be pretty good actually with myra's, doesnt need to be t7, it could be later, still really nice. I saw justsaiyan's post on twitter about it. Warrior is losing reckless flurry, Mage is losing dragons fury, so only removals for this would be brawl/twisting nether/blizzard into flamestrike/pyro+equality/hysteria or new scheme cards. I probably forgot lot of removals but still its not easy to remove those, especially because opponent might already use some of those earlier, or they wont have it for later because they used it on 7 mana card.
Considering that pirate tempo rogue is losing only faldorei and vilespine slayer(which is only 1 copy in deck) i think Chef Nomi would be great addition to this deck.
New Warlock Minion - Arch-Villain Rafaam
I really like this card. Although it's very random it could lead to some interesting matches. Rest of my deck is trash and running out of cards? This card's got your back lol. Crazy to see the golden monkey reworked into a standalone class l legendary. This is much stronger stat-wise though.
New Mage Minion - Kalecgos
Really curious for the rest of the mage cards. Maybe heropower stuff (fire eater, shrine?) and some freezing can cary you to turn ten... I wonder if a deck containing Jan'alai, Kalecgos and maybe Alex and / or Maly would be too greedy.
Rise of Shadows
Ah! I'm very hopeful for this expansion and this year. I'm loving the storytelling, I'm very excited. I just hope that thay keep on telling us what this Evil League is doing.
Loving Kalecgos, such an impactful card and even the Spellward Jewelery (she seems a strong tech card) and also loving the lackeys.
I was wondering...they said that many other lackeys will be added trough all the years of the Dragon and as I can see these first five lackeys are connected to our well knowkn evil characters: ethereal, kobold, goblin, faceless (I assume that this one concerns the tentacles behind M.me Lazul) and witchy. I think that the next 2 expansions will bring many other important and carismatic characters that will have a connected lackey.
I'm happy and I hope to see many more strong or mad/enjoyable cards.
New Shaman Spell - Hagatha's Scheme
Does this upgrade each turn regardless?
It makes no mention of upgrading only whilst in hand! pulling it on turn 20 and having a full board nuke would be pretty mad. (a cheaper twisting nether essentially)
New Shaman Spell - Hagatha's Scheme
Upgrades each turn means that it adds it's original effect to the current one each turn.
A card that would summon a minion for this reason summon another of these minions each turn that is has been in your hand.
(Also i predict that Rafaam's Scheme is gonna summon 1/1 Imps)
New Shaman Spell - Hagatha's Scheme
What does upgrade do? it looks like shaman is getting a new exciting board clear i am excited because there is no overload!!!!
Rise of Shadows: Arena Impact
Arch-Villain Rafaam (2): Excellent base line scores, but the battlecry can be awkward. It's a situational play in some spots, and of course the RNG can be immense depending on the available Legendaries. Building a deck around the card is possible if you aim for a smaller deck, and have this be your value engine in the late game.
Chef Nomi (3): You draft Blazecaller from time to time as a 7 mana 6/6. This card is definitely draftable depending on it's bucket competition.
Kalecgos (1): A lot of the bad Mage spells are cycling out, so this card potentially gets a better discover pool. I'm comparing it to Ysera, Sindragosa, or a 4/12 Dragon + [Hearthstone Card (Primordial Gylph) Not Found], which puts this into the upper echelon of dragon Legendaries.
Swampqueen Hagatha (1): Slow tempo play initially but potential game breaking swing afterwards. The spell combinations can be insane. I'd compare the card to Kazakus without the deck restriction, but with a more restrictive generated card. This should be a great card in Arena.
Oblivitron (5): This card is probably un-draftable. Not only is it's effect a deathrattle meaning it's likely that you won't have the initiative to trigger it, it's grossly over costed/under statted and the effect is tribe only. There's just too many things that need to happen for this card to work out and in Arena, that's not a consistent strategy.
Jepetto Joybuzz (4): As a 8 mana 6/6 draw 2 cards, this would be pretty good, but my thought is that the 1/1 pulls from your deck make this card worse on average.
Fel Lord Betrug (2): Can tap to get immediate impact, although for 10 mana it's not going to be strong enough. The effect is strong if it survives one turn since you draw 2 cards per turn as Warlock potentially. Definitely a must remove threat.
Commander Rhyssa (2): Body is fine as a 3-drop. The secret synergy is very limited upside.
Nozari (4): Seems nearly un-draftable. 16 stats for 10 mana is awful so the heal effect has to be heavily in your favor to make this worthwhile.
Scargil(3): 4 mana 4/4 is okay. The murloc synergy will likely have minimal impact on it's overall effectiveness.
Epic
Lazul's Scheme (3): Potentially quite good. The effect is end of turn only so it's possible to steal something and have it revert back to full stats at end of turn. It's a horrible top deck and requires turns and other cards to make it good, but there's some potential here.
Dragon Speaker (4) - This card is probably average if it hits 1 dragon. Good dragons already have tons of stats, so we will need some more initiative from future dragons to make up for de-tempoing into a 5 mana 3/5.
Crystal Stag (2): I'm betting there will be more Druid heal cards coming in this expansion. This card seems really strong if you can get the double copy. 4 attack on T5, while a bit weak, is still great at helping you catch up from a weak opener.
Muckmorpher (4): Needs to hit a strong deathrattle or a minion with some good abilities like Taunt/Divine Shield or Rush. Otherwise it's a 5 mana 4/4.
Duel! (5): This is un-draftable. Worse then Gather Your Party
Mana Cyclone (2): Draw one card seems OK. Draw more will be insane. It's a small investment for some extra late game value. A bit deck dependent.
Shadowy Figure (3): Card seems borderline bad. First you'll need another Deathrattle on the board to make this worth anything otherwise it's a 2 mana 2/2 which is slightly below average.
Unseen Saboteur (3): Could be interesting, i'm cautious with the average rating since this could be a potentially game losing card. Ex. Play this into Mind Control, etc.
Arcane Fletcher (4): Other then Hunter I don't see this card being draftable. Even in Hunter it's rarely going to be correct to draft this.
Azerite Elemental (3): Probably playable just as a 5 drop, but the delayed spell damage is a bit of a pain, but it's a nice boost if it lives 1 turn.
Darkest Hour(5): Overcosted and RNG dependent as well as situation dependent. Un-draftable.
Jumbo Imp (3): Not a huge fan of this, but it's still a big drop and has some synergies in this class. Playable demons seem to be more common as well.
Magic Carpet (4): The ability shouldn't go off that often, as a 3 drop the 1/6 is not good enough most of the time.
Portal Overfiend (3): Should be decent, it's unstatted but the 2/2s have value and initiative when drawn.
Waggle Pick (2): First 4 damage weapon for Rogue. The deathrattle is only bad when the weapon gets oozed. Otherwise it's controllable and more often then not, a benefit as opposed to a draw back.
Whirlwind Tempest (5): Undraftable. There isn't many windfury minions to begin with.
Witch's Brew (5): Near undraftable. It's flexibility does not make up for the fact that healing is generally not worth the card by itself.
Rare
Forbidden Words (2): I think this card is really cool. It can be insanely busted ex. 4 mana kill 4/12 Dragon. but requires you to spend your mana properly before hand. It's really interesting and should create some skillful turns.
Hagatha's Scheme (2): It's an unpredictable board clear for 5 mana. A horrible top deck of course. If you have this from your opener, it's basically a 5 mana Twisting Nether in the late game, which is great, but will break even at 4-5 damage. I think it's potentially insane, but it's unpredictability dampers my expectations a bit.
Spellward Jeweler (2): Solid 3 drop stats with no real downside.
Togwaggle's Scheme (4): At 1 mana, it's draftable as a combo activator or a card that beefs your draws. It'll come down to what bucket this card is in, but right now, it's not something you want to put a lot of priority in.
The Forest's Aid (2): A lot of value packed into this card. Is it as good as Violet Wurm ? Probably not. The split bodies are probably worse most of the time compared to a single large body, and the resulting value card is another 8 mana to spend. Is it good ? Yes.
Sludge Slurper (2) - Really good one drop that can be played T1 into T2 Lackey if needed. Nothing overly fancy about the card, but nice card to fit curve and give some value.
Mass Resurrection (4) - Card seems ridiculously awful if you have tokens or smaller minions spawns. We've seen this type of card before with the Priest Spellstone. It's easier to play, but at 9 mana, it's really hard to justify this card in Arena.
Hecklebot (4): The old Deathlord was draftable in arena because decks usually had some poor vanilla minion quality, and the effect was a Deathrattle. This one costs more, and it's effect is a Battlecry which is a bit too much downside to make this good.
Arcane Watcher (5): Better then Ancient Watcher, but that doesn't mean that much.
Convincing Infiltrator (2): It's similar to Gloomtrogg 1/5 taunt poison minion in strength. It's good but it shouldn't be compared to Obsidian Statue.
Hunting Party (5): Undraftable. Need 3 hits to break even to pre nerf Nourish, as a Hunter, this seems like an impossible feat on T5 or later.
Impferno (3): Arcane Explosion with a Demon buff. It's okay as a small AOE with occasional upside.
Kirin Tor Tricaster (3): Worse then Cosmic Anomaly. The body is bad on T4, and the spell restriction hurts it's ability to be played with big spells on the same turn.
Mad Summoner (5): It's a net 3/3 for 6 mana on an empty board, so you'll need to find a way to remove their board and preserve your board to make this worth while.
Mysterious Blade (2): Early initiative for Paladin is great. It's a fine weapon, and the secret set up on T1 is very possible.
Portal Keeper (3): Slightly worse then it's 5/6 brother, but still a viable pick and has potential to trade up as well.
Recurring Villain (2): Small stat discount for a huge value and tempo play if you can squeeze +1 attack. It's also reoccuring so effects like Stormwind Champion make it a huge threat.
Sunreaver Warmage (3): This is going to be average in some classes but goes up in other classes. Its a huge tempo swing if it goes off.
Sweeping Strikes (2): I think this card is very powerful. It'll potentially 2 for 1 easily. This will be an interesting 1 off in Warrior decks. Be mindful of your positioning against Warriors!
Tunnel Blaster (4): This seems worth then Abomination. It's more expensive, harder to kill off and comes in the late game where 3 damage is less impactful.
Underbelly Angler (2): Very powerful card for Shaman if they can pull this off. Almost no downside to this card with potential huge upside.
Underbelly Ooze (5): Undraftable unless you're Paladin or have access to buffs. Summoning 2x 3/4s (after receiving 1 damage) is not winning the game for this mana investment.
Common
Evil Miscreant (2): Poor stats, but the Lackeys are quite strong. In Rogue, this should be easy enough to trigger so you'll get more options come back afterwards.
Hench-Clan Hogsteed (2) - Nice neutral ping and leaves a little 1/1 for extra value. Seems decent.
Bronze Herald (1) - 2x cards attached to a 3 mana card is great. It's also a Paladin card which struggles with card refill. The fact that this card also doesn't sacrifice it's attack/mana stat and gives you plays for the following turn (T3 into T4), makes this card really good. You compare this card to Igneous Elemental and you'll see what the current card pool has as a comparable.
Crystal Power (2): Seems great. Not as good as Living Roots, but a different type of flexibility for this card.
Walking Fountain (1): Should be a premium card. Occasionally killing 2 things, healing for a bunch and leaving a 4/X body behind seems really likely. It's an Elemental to boot.
Ray of Frost (2): I like the flexibility from this card. It's basically a 2 mana - 2 damage card in a pinch, or you can double freeze 2 minions and push for lethal.
Arcane Servant (3): Average 2 drop with Elemental tag.
Blessing of the Ancients (3): Expensive but flexible, seems fair.
Burly Shovelfist (1): For what it is, it's great. Whether the meta will allow taking multiple 9 drops, we'll see. If anything it'll benefit from the lack of large removals in the upcoming meta.
Dalaran Crusader (1): Great card, will be meta defining 5 drop for this set.
Dalaran Librarian (3): 2 drop with upside. Seems solid.
Daring Escape (5): Un-draftable. Significantly worse then Shadow Step, which is already a fringe card to draft.
Eccentric Scribe (1): Neutral Savannah Highmane. It's a 6 drop so you can't take a bunch of these in a deck. Its comparable to Violet Wurm or Piloted Sky Golem. Candidate for best neutral in the new set and potentially meta defining.
Faceless Rager (2): It'll be good, but don't mistaken it for a 3 drop.
Flight Master (3): It's draftable, but I have a bad feeling about this card. It's not a great turn 3, because your best result is a 3/4. It also allows smaller minions to trade up.
Hench-Clan Shadequill (1): This card is a nightmare. It's in the class that will benefit from it the most, and hurt from it's draw back the least. 7 hp will mean this thing kills a bunch of stuff and gets healed to stabilize the early game for Priest. The lack of poisonous minions in the meta means this thing will almost never go down to 1 card. It's insane.
Heroic Innkeeper (3): Need 2 minions for this to be good, anything more pushes it into premium territory.
Magic Dart Frog (4): Are you okay with a 2 mana 1/3 ? The ability isn't even worth considering if it's not the optimal play.
Mana Reservoir (5): Undraftable.
Mutate (2): I like this card at 0 mana. It'll give some punish turns for sure.
Potion Vendor(3): Good effect, but body is not very useful. Not a great T1 either so it's best held for it's ability.
Proud Defender (2): Solid card that has some good interactions that you can manipulate in your favor. Fair, and balanced, but good.
Rapid Fire (3): Synergies with spell damage, otherwise over costed for it's flexibility.
Safeguard (3): It's fine and might be better then we think. The body is weak for it's mana cost, but it's quite a bit of HP to chew through.
Soul of the Murloc (3): Should be okay. Needs 2 hits to be playable for it's mana cost. In Shaman, probably not an issue.
Spellbook Binder(3): 2 drop with upside, seems fine.
Sunreaver Spy (3) Average okay with upside.
Toxfin (3): I think sure this card is going to be better then expected. It combos well with Hench Clan Hag and of course Shaman has plenty of murloc triggers. It's has minimal downside as well as a 1 mana 1/2.
Unsleeping Soul (3): A worse Molten Reflection. The silence effect feels like a negative, but will likely not matter most of the time.
Ursatron (3): Fair stats that draws a card seems fine.
Vicious Scraphound (3): It's cute, and should net you at least 2 armor for it's understatted body.
Violet Spellsword (3): 1 spell to break even, 2 spells to be good, 3 spells to be excellent. Bit tough, but probably overall an average card.
Violet Warden (2): Seems good actually. There's not that many taunts in this expansion, and this one is solid with 7hp and spell bonus which is relevant at times.
Rise of Shadows
EXPANSION HYPE!
Loving the direction that they are bring the expansion at so far. :D
New Mage Minion - Kalecgos
Pretty impressed with this card. Well-designed, showcases the power of Kalecgos, reflecting his lore accurately.