It's a cheap, flexible spell that can be used to find a minion on curve or just be used to activate spell burst effects.
This spell has a nice synergy with Bloated Python and Teacher's Pet on turns 2 and 4 instead of 3 and 5. it can also discover deathrattle minions you might not have slotted in or want to play on curve later such as Savannah Highmane.
It should be noted that in the past discover effects used to favor the players class, but that was removed when EVIL Flunky kept discovering itself in Saviors of Ulduum. As such, this card has a small chance to discover the class legendaries from AoO that become the late game Prime minions some decks build themselves around.
Alleycat saw tremendous play in Hunter decks when it was printed in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan until it rotated in wild.
Heck Alleycat even sees a lot of play in the battlegrounds, it's a great minion to pick on turn 1
This card is very much like Alley cat, 1 mana 1/1 that can summon another 1/1, however the difference is where Alley cat will summon a 1/1, this summons a copy of itself.
Back in Mean Streets when handbuffing was introduced to Hunter, the ideal turn 1 play was to play smuggler's crate, hit the alley cat, and then coin the alley cat for 4/4 worth of stats on turn 1.
If this card was hit with smuggling crate, you'd hit 6/6 worth of stats for 1 mana instead. In standard your options are a little limited - you can draw this minion with scavenger's ingenuity for +2/+2, or have Felboar die and give it +1/+1, or perhaps even have Scrap shot give it +3/+3, either way you're summoning 4/4, 6/6 or 8/8 worth of stats for 1 mana which is very cost effective.
where this minion really shines though is it's synergy with Overwhelm, making the 1 mana deal 2 to a minion deal 4 instead. 2 mana, deal 4 is possibly some of the best removal that could be printed, most 2 mana removal spells only deal 3 unless spell damage is being used.
It's easy to compare this spell with Arcane shot - both cost (1) mana, both deal 2 damage, both can be improved by spell damage.
Overwhelm however can only deal damage to a minion. It can also improve it's damage by the number of friendly beasts on your side of the field, up to 7, for a total of 9 damage for 1 mana. That's a colossal amount of damage for 1 mana.
Hunter's have been known for using tokens for a while now, they're top three choices being unleash the hounds, Swarm of Locusts and snake trap. While Unleash the hounds is dependent on your opponents board, swarm of Locusts and snake trap are not, allowing you to deal and additional 3-6 damage with this spell to a target of your choice.
This mean that taunts that would get in the way of your face damage can be easily removed for very cheap, and can even by played with the new Krolusk Barkstripper to remove 2 minions from your opponents board instead of just 1.
Cheap, flexible spells always see play initially, if beast hunter becomes dominant again we will absolutely see this card in the ladder.
3 mana for 1/2 of stats is pretty bad. getting a 4/4 out of it makes it better, but you'll want to have a strategy in mind when running this minion.
Hunter's hand buff cards, Felboar, Scavenger's Ingenuity and Scrap Shot can make this minion MUCH better, 3 mana 2/4 have seen play, and 3/4 for 3 is very good, 4/5 for 3 mana is the best outcome.
This minion's deathrattle effect also gives it a strong synergy with Hunter's new card carrion studies, which can discount this minion's cost by (1), allowing you to play Carrion Studies on turn 1, and then this on turn 2.
If you're wanting to play this with an egg deck you'll want Teron Gorefiend in your deck as well as a way to not just activate it but to resummon it with +1/+1 along with other sticky death rattle minions.
aside from that, you can also play Houndmaster on curve following this minion to give it +2/+2 and taunt so that your opponent is forced to throw a minion at it and activate it's deathrattle.
But at 3 mana Midrange Hunter's 3 mana slot is already full with cards like Animal Companion, Kill Command, Zixor Apex Predator and EagleHorn Bow or Stormhammer. It might not be able to fit in this deck unless you're aiming for cheap beasts.
It seems like Team 5 wants to remind players that Hunters are supposed to play with beasts!
this minion has average stats for cost, it's no Chillwind Yeti but it can still take some damage. Slightly below bar for Arena picks.
The effect is what's interesting about the card, being able to remove a random enemy once a turn is massive if your opponent is playing minions on curve.
Granted, this means you'll probably need to play spells and cheaper minions off curve, but with spells like say - Scrap shot to remove a minion, and using this minion's effect to remove another, you've cleared two minions for four mana. and if Scrap shot hit hunter's new 1 drop the Wolpertinger you can play it after the scrap shot for 8/8 worth of stats across two bodies (more on that on the Wolpertinger review).
However this minion's effect will make it a target for single removal spells or even rush minions so you don't snowball with it, and while there's ways to improve it's stats and make it stronger, there's some spells like siphon soul or assassinate that can remove this minion easily.
Due to it's spellburst ability you'll want to play spells with this minion, but you don't need to run removal. I think secret Hunter might adopt this minion for their deck.
Historically Token Druid Decks have used Violet Teacher as a way to create large boards of sticky minions with power of the wild and soul of the forest, but for 4 mana Violet Teacher was sometimes clunky to play, and with Exotic Mount Seller and Kael'Thas Sunstrider Druids completely abandoned the violet teacher.
So, a minion that's 3 mana cheaper that also creates 1/1 tokens from spells you play should see play, being 3 turns faster than Violet Teacher and 6 turns faster than Exotic Mount seller. While the first Gibberer will only summon 1 additional Gibberer due to spellburst, the new Gibberer will still retain it's spellburst ability, allowing you to repeat the effect as you desire.
So on turn 2 you can play this on for (1) mana and have a mana left over. play the coin or innervate to summon another and have (2) mana to play Power of the wild and give your minions +1/+1, which will summon another Gibberer with your board receiving the buff giving you 6/6 worth of stats across 3 bodies.
Card also has a soft synergy with survival of the fittest, and while you might not be able to play them on the same turn if this spells hits while a gibberer is on the board it will summon another that will gain the buff for two minions with 5/5 of stats.
since you'll be playing spells in token druid there's a high chance you'll be able to save at least 1 or two of the gibberers needed for a good soul of the forest play to lead into savage roar.
a cheap, flexible spell that can guarantee a turn 2 and 3 play, or to just activate a spellburst effect.
the pool for 2 and 3 cost minions in standard is pretty small, with 13 possible outcomes for 2 mana beasts and 17 3 mana beasts. Most of these minions aren't that strong but they can be played on curve in Arena or even on standard if you don't have anything better to do in those turns.
You're best pull from the 3 mana pool is King Mukla of Zixor, Apex Predator, who can become much bigger and poweful with Druid's glut of buff spells.
That said this card isn't that strong, it's just flexible and gives you some options to spend your mana on. It might see play but I think Druid has better options at 1 mana
On paper this minion is 1 health shy away from Stranglethorn tiger - both are 5 cost minions, both have 5 attack, both are beasts. However for 1 health less this minion will draw you two cards on the next turn if your opponent doesn't use an AOE to clear your whole board (and if they use an AOE to kill 1 minion you're winning).
Back in ONiK when Beast Hunter was a new archetype the deck lent itself to a tempo/midrange deck that wanted to play efficient minions on curve and then make them stronger with Mark of Y'Sharaj or duplicate them with Menagerie Warden. Like most Tempo and Midrange decks it suffered from a lack of card draw (Mark of Y'sharaj did draw a card and so did Wrath, but oustide of those two I don't remember much draw in the deck).
So a minion with stealth that should be able to draw you two cards is a huge must include in any Druid deck that wants to run beasts in a midrange deck.
With the new spell Animale Guardians you'll be able to summon this minion and give it rush, allowing you to activate it's draw effect the turn it hits the board. combine with embiggen and you'll be able to summon a 7/6 with rush that draws 2 cards
a 5 mana 4/5 with taunt is GOOD, but not GREAT. Druid and Shaman have a 4/5 with taunt that restores 5 health at 4 mana.
Even with the deathrattle that summons a random 3 drop minion.
Fortunately Hunter and Druid have ways to make this minion BETTER.
BOTH share the legenday minion Shan'do Wildclaw, a 3 mana 3/3 minion that can either transform into a friendly beast. If Shan'do is played on curve and you choose the option to give your beasts in deck +1/+1 this minion is now a VERY SOLID 5/6 with taunt and deathrattle for 5 mana. They can also play Guardian Animals which will allow you to pull this beast and another for 7 - 10 mana worth of minions for 7 is a fair price.
Outside of Shan'do both classes also have ways to buff the minion - Druids saw their spell Embiggen to be very popular during DoD with the Strength in numbers sidequest - I fully believe this minion will benefit from both spells. Hunters have Scavenger's Ingenuity to draw this beast and give it +2/+2 in hand, and have Scrap shot for an additional +3/+3. if played in this order Teacher's Pet can become a massive 9/10 by turn 5. Ramkahen Wildtamer can also duplicate this minion in hand, along with Hunting Party
It's playable on curve in arena - this minion is essentially a chillwind yeti that's more aggressively statted.
If you play with on curve with the outcast effect activated it becomes a 7/6 across three bodies which is VERY strong - 4 mana 7/7 have seen play with Flamewreathed faceless and other minions, there's no reason for this not to see play either.
Due to HOW it's a 7/6 this could see play in tempo or control decks. Tempo obviously wants to be as threatening as they can and push as much damage as possible, while the control decks look like they want to utilize the tokens DH has for their synergy with Fel Guardian, Blood herald and Netherandamus.
This card can be drawn with the newly printed Double Jump, if your deck doesn't have a glut of outcast cards to compete with.
1 mana draw spells are efficient and always see play, historically speaking.
1 mana SPECIFIC draw spells are MORE efficient and should see play, but it depends on the deck you're running.
When Scholomance Academy launches, DH will have 9 cards with outcast effects, but you won't want to run every outcast card with this card, and you probably won't run this card in every DH deck.
Tempo DH is currently blessed with a TON of card draw from Crimson Sigil Runner, Spectral Sight, and Skull of Gul'dan, they're either cheap draws that can get additional threats or make your cards drawn cheaper to help apply pressure the next turn.
I feel like with this card you might want to use to gain your card draw or hand disruption cards - Skull of Gul'dan, Glide or Star Student Stelina - cards that you're opponent can't play around that will screw with their gameplan (especially if combo decks comeback).
Now that I think about it, this card COULD work in an aggressive or Tempo deck list - if you pull Felosophy and play it, you could duplicate a Battlefiend or Satyr Overseer and give both minions +1/+1, but that also sounds like a slow turn, now that I've typed it out
A giant bat that gains stats when a friendly minion dies - feels like this should have been a warlock card in Rastakhan's Rumble when they were pushing their hand buff mechanics.
A card like this is going to find home in a control shell that will utilize Coordinated Strike and Command the Illidari as ways to remove your opponents minions and kill your own tokens to make this guy bigger.
however, because of it's cost you'll need to sacrifice say 5 minions while this is in your hand for it to be cost effective - anything below 5/5 of stats isn't mana efficient, you want the most stats for the least amount of mana.
Granted you can always try to discount this card with Skull of Gul'Dan, since control decks rely on card draw to get their answers.
A deck that runs this minion will also be running Fel Guardians and Netherandamus, both who also get stronger as friendly minions die.
I forgot Hunters could use this card too, with Hunters their tempo playstyle might make this minion too slow for them, but they do have unleash the hounds and the new 1 drop Wolfpertinger which creates a token dulpicate of itself, and let's not forget snake trap as well, but I feel like Demon Hunter might be more efficient with this minion than Hunter
This card reminds everyone of Corridor creeper, and it's easy to make the comparison - both are 7 mana that get discounted when minions die.
Unlike Creeper, this card only discounts FRIENDLY minions dying. Also while 3/6 worth of stats with taunt is better than 2/5 (WAS 5/5 until creeper was nerfed) its split up across 3 bodies.
You'll want to discount this card by at least (3) mana for it to be 4 mana 3/6 of stats (a stat line that's been pretty prominent in some legendaries this set). Fortunately for Demon Hunter that's not too difficult to accomplish, their spells Coordinated Strike and Command the Illidari summon 1/1 rush minions whose purpose is to trade into your opponents minions and clear the board or remove a dangerous threat.
If you're going to be using a deck that runs this spell you'll also be running the new Blood Herald minion, who also gains stat bonuses in hand for friendly minions that die, and Netherandamus, who doesn't see much play since he doesn't have the support needed for a control deck.
This card will probably see some experimentation, but I'm not certain if Control Demon Hunter will replace the efficient Tempo Demon Hunter just yet.
Animal Companion usually finds it's way in Hunter decks due to how cost effective the minions they summon are - they also synergy with Hunter's beast reliant cards like Kill Command or Hound Master.
Demon Companion, being a third of the cost with minions that have half the stats of their basic counterparts (same effects, though - rush, taunt and additional attack to friendly minions) means this spell will definitely see play in the future.
I suspect that this card will find a home in more Demon Hunter decks than Hunter, since Hunters received a VERY strong 1 drop this expansion and like to focus on their beast synergy, but I suppose that for any aggressive or tempo game plan this card can fit anywhere.
cheap, flexible, summons very cost effective minions, it's a 5 star card that will see play in standard until rotation.
Those new weapon frames look sharp!
WOOO FREEBIES !!!
I'm glad to see that "different minion types" is being supported more in battlegrounds!
It's a cheap, flexible spell that can be used to find a minion on curve or just be used to activate spell burst effects.
This spell has a nice synergy with Bloated Python and Teacher's Pet on turns 2 and 4 instead of 3 and 5. it can also discover deathrattle minions you might not have slotted in or want to play on curve later such as Savannah Highmane.
It should be noted that in the past discover effects used to favor the players class, but that was removed when EVIL Flunky kept discovering itself in Saviors of Ulduum. As such, this card has a small chance to discover the class legendaries from AoO that become the late game Prime minions some decks build themselves around.
Alleycat saw tremendous play in Hunter decks when it was printed in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan until it rotated in wild.
Heck Alleycat even sees a lot of play in the battlegrounds, it's a great minion to pick on turn 1
This card is very much like Alley cat, 1 mana 1/1 that can summon another 1/1, however the difference is where Alley cat will summon a 1/1, this summons a copy of itself.
Back in Mean Streets when handbuffing was introduced to Hunter, the ideal turn 1 play was to play smuggler's crate, hit the alley cat, and then coin the alley cat for 4/4 worth of stats on turn 1.
If this card was hit with smuggling crate, you'd hit 6/6 worth of stats for 1 mana instead. In standard your options are a little limited - you can draw this minion with scavenger's ingenuity for +2/+2, or have Felboar die and give it +1/+1, or perhaps even have Scrap shot give it +3/+3, either way you're summoning 4/4, 6/6 or 8/8 worth of stats for 1 mana which is very cost effective.
where this minion really shines though is it's synergy with Overwhelm, making the 1 mana deal 2 to a minion deal 4 instead. 2 mana, deal 4 is possibly some of the best removal that could be printed, most 2 mana removal spells only deal 3 unless spell damage is being used.
It's easy to compare this spell with Arcane shot - both cost (1) mana, both deal 2 damage, both can be improved by spell damage.
Overwhelm however can only deal damage to a minion. It can also improve it's damage by the number of friendly beasts on your side of the field, up to 7, for a total of 9 damage for 1 mana. That's a colossal amount of damage for 1 mana.
Hunter's have been known for using tokens for a while now, they're top three choices being unleash the hounds, Swarm of Locusts and snake trap. While Unleash the hounds is dependent on your opponents board, swarm of Locusts and snake trap are not, allowing you to deal and additional 3-6 damage with this spell to a target of your choice.
This mean that taunts that would get in the way of your face damage can be easily removed for very cheap, and can even by played with the new Krolusk Barkstripper to remove 2 minions from your opponents board instead of just 1.
Cheap, flexible spells always see play initially, if beast hunter becomes dominant again we will absolutely see this card in the ladder.
3 mana for 1/2 of stats is pretty bad. getting a 4/4 out of it makes it better, but you'll want to have a strategy in mind when running this minion.
Hunter's hand buff cards, Felboar, Scavenger's Ingenuity and Scrap Shot can make this minion MUCH better, 3 mana 2/4 have seen play, and 3/4 for 3 is very good, 4/5 for 3 mana is the best outcome.
This minion's deathrattle effect also gives it a strong synergy with Hunter's new card carrion studies, which can discount this minion's cost by (1), allowing you to play Carrion Studies on turn 1, and then this on turn 2.
If you're wanting to play this with an egg deck you'll want Teron Gorefiend in your deck as well as a way to not just activate it but to resummon it with +1/+1 along with other sticky death rattle minions.
aside from that, you can also play Houndmaster on curve following this minion to give it +2/+2 and taunt so that your opponent is forced to throw a minion at it and activate it's deathrattle.
But at 3 mana Midrange Hunter's 3 mana slot is already full with cards like Animal Companion, Kill Command, Zixor Apex Predator and EagleHorn Bow or Stormhammer. It might not be able to fit in this deck unless you're aiming for cheap beasts.
It seems like Team 5 wants to remind players that Hunters are supposed to play with beasts!
this minion has average stats for cost, it's no Chillwind Yeti but it can still take some damage. Slightly below bar for Arena picks.
The effect is what's interesting about the card, being able to remove a random enemy once a turn is massive if your opponent is playing minions on curve.
Granted, this means you'll probably need to play spells and cheaper minions off curve, but with spells like say - Scrap shot to remove a minion, and using this minion's effect to remove another, you've cleared two minions for four mana. and if Scrap shot hit hunter's new 1 drop the Wolpertinger you can play it after the scrap shot for 8/8 worth of stats across two bodies (more on that on the Wolpertinger review).
However this minion's effect will make it a target for single removal spells or even rush minions so you don't snowball with it, and while there's ways to improve it's stats and make it stronger, there's some spells like siphon soul or assassinate that can remove this minion easily.
Due to it's spellburst ability you'll want to play spells with this minion, but you don't need to run removal. I think secret Hunter might adopt this minion for their deck.
Historically Token Druid Decks have used Violet Teacher as a way to create large boards of sticky minions with power of the wild and soul of the forest, but for 4 mana Violet Teacher was sometimes clunky to play, and with Exotic Mount Seller and Kael'Thas Sunstrider Druids completely abandoned the violet teacher.
So, a minion that's 3 mana cheaper that also creates 1/1 tokens from spells you play should see play, being 3 turns faster than Violet Teacher and 6 turns faster than Exotic Mount seller. While the first Gibberer will only summon 1 additional Gibberer due to spellburst, the new Gibberer will still retain it's spellburst ability, allowing you to repeat the effect as you desire.
So on turn 2 you can play this on for (1) mana and have a mana left over. play the coin or innervate to summon another and have (2) mana to play Power of the wild and give your minions +1/+1, which will summon another Gibberer with your board receiving the buff giving you 6/6 worth of stats across 3 bodies.
Card also has a soft synergy with survival of the fittest, and while you might not be able to play them on the same turn if this spells hits while a gibberer is on the board it will summon another that will gain the buff for two minions with 5/5 of stats.
since you'll be playing spells in token druid there's a high chance you'll be able to save at least 1 or two of the gibberers needed for a good soul of the forest play to lead into savage roar.
I appreciate the python joke in the flavor text
a cheap, flexible spell that can guarantee a turn 2 and 3 play, or to just activate a spellburst effect.
the pool for 2 and 3 cost minions in standard is pretty small, with 13 possible outcomes for 2 mana beasts and 17 3 mana beasts. Most of these minions aren't that strong but they can be played on curve in Arena or even on standard if you don't have anything better to do in those turns.
You're best pull from the 3 mana pool is King Mukla of Zixor, Apex Predator, who can become much bigger and poweful with Druid's glut of buff spells.
That said this card isn't that strong, it's just flexible and gives you some options to spend your mana on. It might see play but I think Druid has better options at 1 mana
On paper this minion is 1 health shy away from Stranglethorn tiger - both are 5 cost minions, both have 5 attack, both are beasts. However for 1 health less this minion will draw you two cards on the next turn if your opponent doesn't use an AOE to clear your whole board (and if they use an AOE to kill 1 minion you're winning).
Back in ONiK when Beast Hunter was a new archetype the deck lent itself to a tempo/midrange deck that wanted to play efficient minions on curve and then make them stronger with Mark of Y'Sharaj or duplicate them with Menagerie Warden. Like most Tempo and Midrange decks it suffered from a lack of card draw (Mark of Y'sharaj did draw a card and so did Wrath, but oustide of those two I don't remember much draw in the deck).
So a minion with stealth that should be able to draw you two cards is a huge must include in any Druid deck that wants to run beasts in a midrange deck.
With the new spell Animale Guardians you'll be able to summon this minion and give it rush, allowing you to activate it's draw effect the turn it hits the board. combine with embiggen and you'll be able to summon a 7/6 with rush that draws 2 cards
a 5 mana 4/5 with taunt is GOOD, but not GREAT. Druid and Shaman have a 4/5 with taunt that restores 5 health at 4 mana.
Even with the deathrattle that summons a random 3 drop minion.
Fortunately Hunter and Druid have ways to make this minion BETTER.
BOTH share the legenday minion Shan'do Wildclaw, a 3 mana 3/3 minion that can either transform into a friendly beast. If Shan'do is played on curve and you choose the option to give your beasts in deck +1/+1 this minion is now a VERY SOLID 5/6 with taunt and deathrattle for 5 mana. They can also play Guardian Animals which will allow you to pull this beast and another for 7 - 10 mana worth of minions for 7 is a fair price.
Outside of Shan'do both classes also have ways to buff the minion - Druids saw their spell Embiggen to be very popular during DoD with the Strength in numbers sidequest - I fully believe this minion will benefit from both spells. Hunters have Scavenger's Ingenuity to draw this beast and give it +2/+2 in hand, and have Scrap shot for an additional +3/+3. if played in this order Teacher's Pet can become a massive 9/10 by turn 5. Ramkahen Wildtamer can also duplicate this minion in hand, along with Hunting Party
It's playable on curve in arena - this minion is essentially a chillwind yeti that's more aggressively statted.
If you play with on curve with the outcast effect activated it becomes a 7/6 across three bodies which is VERY strong - 4 mana 7/7 have seen play with Flamewreathed faceless and other minions, there's no reason for this not to see play either.
Due to HOW it's a 7/6 this could see play in tempo or control decks. Tempo obviously wants to be as threatening as they can and push as much damage as possible, while the control decks look like they want to utilize the tokens DH has for their synergy with Fel Guardian, Blood herald and Netherandamus.
This card can be drawn with the newly printed Double Jump, if your deck doesn't have a glut of outcast cards to compete with.
1 mana draw spells are efficient and always see play, historically speaking.
1 mana SPECIFIC draw spells are MORE efficient and should see play, but it depends on the deck you're running.
When Scholomance Academy launches, DH will have 9 cards with outcast effects, but you won't want to run every outcast card with this card, and you probably won't run this card in every DH deck.
Tempo DH is currently blessed with a TON of card draw from Crimson Sigil Runner, Spectral Sight, and Skull of Gul'dan, they're either cheap draws that can get additional threats or make your cards drawn cheaper to help apply pressure the next turn.
I feel like with this card you might want to use to gain your card draw or hand disruption cards - Skull of Gul'dan, Glide or Star Student Stelina - cards that you're opponent can't play around that will screw with their gameplan (especially if combo decks comeback).
Now that I think about it, this card COULD work in an aggressive or Tempo deck list - if you pull Felosophy and play it, you could duplicate a Battlefiend or Satyr Overseer and give both minions +1/+1, but that also sounds like a slow turn, now that I've typed it out
A giant bat that gains stats when a friendly minion dies - feels like this should have been a warlock card in Rastakhan's Rumble when they were pushing their hand buff mechanics.
A card like this is going to find home in a control shell that will utilize Coordinated Strike and Command the Illidari as ways to remove your opponents minions and kill your own tokens to make this guy bigger.
however, because of it's cost you'll need to sacrifice say 5 minions while this is in your hand for it to be cost effective - anything below 5/5 of stats isn't mana efficient, you want the most stats for the least amount of mana.
Granted you can always try to discount this card with Skull of Gul'Dan, since control decks rely on card draw to get their answers.
A deck that runs this minion will also be running Fel Guardians and Netherandamus, both who also get stronger as friendly minions die.
I forgot Hunters could use this card too, with Hunters their tempo playstyle might make this minion too slow for them, but they do have unleash the hounds and the new 1 drop Wolfpertinger which creates a token dulpicate of itself, and let's not forget snake trap as well, but I feel like Demon Hunter might be more efficient with this minion than Hunter
This card reminds everyone of Corridor creeper, and it's easy to make the comparison - both are 7 mana that get discounted when minions die.
Unlike Creeper, this card only discounts FRIENDLY minions dying. Also while 3/6 worth of stats with taunt is better than 2/5 (WAS 5/5 until creeper was nerfed) its split up across 3 bodies.
You'll want to discount this card by at least (3) mana for it to be 4 mana 3/6 of stats (a stat line that's been pretty prominent in some legendaries this set). Fortunately for Demon Hunter that's not too difficult to accomplish, their spells Coordinated Strike and Command the Illidari summon 1/1 rush minions whose purpose is to trade into your opponents minions and clear the board or remove a dangerous threat.
If you're going to be using a deck that runs this spell you'll also be running the new Blood Herald minion, who also gains stat bonuses in hand for friendly minions that die, and Netherandamus, who doesn't see much play since he doesn't have the support needed for a control deck.
This card will probably see some experimentation, but I'm not certain if Control Demon Hunter will replace the efficient Tempo Demon Hunter just yet.
Animal Companion usually finds it's way in Hunter decks due to how cost effective the minions they summon are - they also synergy with Hunter's beast reliant cards like Kill Command or Hound Master.
Demon Companion, being a third of the cost with minions that have half the stats of their basic counterparts (same effects, though - rush, taunt and additional attack to friendly minions) means this spell will definitely see play in the future.
I suspect that this card will find a home in more Demon Hunter decks than Hunter, since Hunters received a VERY strong 1 drop this expansion and like to focus on their beast synergy, but I suppose that for any aggressive or tempo game plan this card can fit anywhere.
cheap, flexible, summons very cost effective minions, it's a 5 star card that will see play in standard until rotation.
AWW YEAH we got a Bingo!
I'm just happy that Rogues are getting more secrets. when they first had them in K&C they only had those 3 until Ashes of Outland.
Sure, this will rotate out with the Ashes of Outland Secrets too but these will be around for a while in standard.