At the time of this reveal there weren't a lot of 5 mana or lower minions you'll want to spend 7 mana on to summon from your deck.
Now that the full sets been revealed reviewing this card is much easier since Hunter and Druid received some nice 5 drop beasts for their standard repertoire.
In druid you'll want this to pull out Teacher's Pet (a 4/5 taunt with deathrattle: summon a 3 cost minion) and Twilight Runner (a 5/4 with stealth that draws you 2 cards whenever this attacks). You can use Embiggen before paying this spell in order to make the minions you summon much bigger, and with them having rush you will probably guarantee a kill with them. Outside of their usual ramp to cheat this spell out faster Druids now have access to Lightning Bloom which is a 0 mana gain 2 mana crystals that turn, it might make your next turn weak but if you pull out 2 5 mana minions on turn 5 you'll probably be ahead on the board.
Hunters can also get Teachers pet from this spell, along with their newly printed Krolusk Barkstripper and Bloated Python, but these are pretty weak in comparison to Twilight Runner or using embiggen and then playing this spell. Hunter also has some strong draw for minions they want with rush with the Diving Gryphon or Scavenger's Ingenuity, and while cheating out mid cost minions sounds good Hunter's current hand buff synergy will want them to play minions from hand, not summon from deck.
Hunter's last 1 mana weapon, Candleshot, saw play in construction until it rotated, and why wouldn't it?
it was cheap, flexible, it gave your hero immune while attacking and could be slotted into the popular spell hunter deck at the time (and other decks, for that matter).
This weapon is also cheap, flexible, but trades immunity for giving your minions rush or even a second attack phase like Hunter's The Beast Within, although instead of a random enemy minion it will attack whatever you attacked.
The best outcome is to have your minions do favorable trades or go face, and then use this on a high value target to have your board go after that threat so no damage missing.
And if you're running this weapon in your deck, you'll want to be running Ace Hunter Kreen, whose ongoing effect makes you and your minions immune while attacking on your turn.
Taunts are sort of a problem with this weapon, if you attack it first with your hero your minions will use their attack phase on it.
Cheap discover cards have always found a home in constructed, I believe this card is no exception.
Spell Mage and Spell Shaman have DESPERATELY needed some spell damage support for their archetypes, but more often than not slotting in a spell damage minion means having to remove a powerful spell from your deck you'd rather play.
For both classes this card can discover their class legendaries from AoO, Lady Vashj and Astromancer Solarian, as well as the spell damage minions that were introduced in RoS (although I believe that there will be MANY more spell damage minions introduced in this set). Discounting the minion by (1) makes it much more playable, as well, since what usually stops the spell damage minions from being played (aside from Malygos) is their cost and poor stats.
Other cards this spell synergies with is Mozaki, Master Duelist, Ras Frost whisper and Mana Cyclone to name a few.
This card can also be discovered by Magic Trick, Cobalt Spellkin, Wand Maker and Arcane Breath in standard, I'm not certain if Shaman can discover this spell in standard at this time.
Regardless, a cheap, flexible card that gives a discounted minion that benefits Shaman and Mage's playstyle of using powerful spells to win the game. will see play
This is a Big Minion that control Demon Hunter was needing for their toolkit.
Not only does it have impressive stats for cost (the legendary dragons save Deathwing are 9 mana 8/8 in stats roughly) but it's AOE effect can sap a significant amount of health and damage from your enemy's board with no way to prevent it.
Once this minion does land on your side of the field, your opponent will be forced to remove it or finish the match on that turn, less your Ancient Void Terror become too big to remove.
That said, this minion doesn't have TAUNT and at turn 9 it's very unlikely that your board will be filled with 1 health minions for this guy to remove. So say your board full of tokens is still around after this minion is played, you can easily play Savage Roar and Bloodlust and go face completely ignoring this minion.
There's also the fact that this minion does not have the Elusive ability, and control matchups will likely have an efficient spell removal for this guy. Mage's have Devolving missiles and polymorph, Shaman also has Devolving missiles and Hex, Warlocks have Siphon Soul and Keli'Dan the Breaker, Priest has Shadow Word: Death, Time Rip, Soul Mirror, Mind Control, Convincing Infiltrator (okay Priest has not worry about this minion, Paladins have Turalyon the Tenured, Equality and Consecration, Warriors have Lord Barov and Whirlwind, or Whirlwind and Execute, Hunters have Deadly Shot, Rogues can bounce it or use Flik Skyshiv to remove it and any copies you might have.
Druids only answer to this minion is in wild with Naturalize, they and other Demon Hunters will be in trouble against this minion.
This minion is an absolute slam pick in Arena. it's Big that just becomes BIGGER. it's perfect
This was not the minion I was expecting for Paladin and Warrior.
Both classes have historically enjoyed having their opponent's minions at 1 health so they can clear their board with spells like whirlwind or consecration.
Lord Barov's Deathrattle serves to help clear the board too, although he will potentially clear your board as well.
Warrior has the easiest time to activate it's death rattle on their turn, with risky skipper being a very popular minion since AoO made pirates popular, along with Sword and Board which is a 1 mana spell that deals a modest 2 damage, and slam can also be used to kill Lord Barov. If a minions' board is cleared before Barov's Deathrattle is activated, you could set up your own board with Armorsmith to gain armor and then use Battlerage to fill you hand.
For Paladin this minion has a clear synergy with their Silver hand recruit tokens, allowing the tiny 1/1 minions to trade into your opponents larger threats, or even setting up a consecration play (equality and consecration used to see play, but I believe Equality got nerfed which killed that combo). I'm not certain how a paladin would intentionally activate Barov's effect or if there's any synergy they have with this effect, either, though.
for it's cost this minions stats are pretty modest.
HOWEVER - REFRESHING YOUR MANA CRYSTALS IS PRETTY STRONG.
Druid historically loves to utilize their spells for either combos or to buff their minions.
In AoO Spell Druid adopted Exotic Mount Seller and Kael'Thas Sunstrider as their only minions, despite having Ysiel who makes spells cost (1) mana as one of their class legendaries from the set. Ysiel saw no play as she was incredibly expensive, and Spell druid was using the reduced cost bogbeam and Ironbark spells to help Kael'Thas cast an expensive spell for free or Exotic Mount Seller to flood the board. Ysiel, despite her cost reduction was actually anti-synergy with the current plan for druids.
Omu however is a different story - while his stats are modest for his cost, being able to refresh your mana crystals to give you essentially an extra turn is a massive play. The World Twig from KaC was often used as this, and there's been times when an adventure was won with the Druid class because you refreshed your mana crystals in one form or another.
For Druids this means another way to pull off combos with Malygos. Forum member Trimutius has mentioned a combo with placing this minion on the board, refreshing your mana crystals, using Maiev Shadowsong on him so he's dormant and can't be interacted with, and once he's available you can slap Malygos down and use the standard moonfire, swipe, swipe, moonfire combo for lethal. Although you could also probably use germination in that combo if you had to use a swipe for board clear
Ysiel may also see play with Omu, since they have a very, very soft synergy. You can play Omu, play say innervate, then play Ysiel, and then you can play high cost cards like Survivial of the fittest, making the two minions 9/8 and 9/9 respectively. But you'll probably want to discount them with Imprisoned Satyr or Jepetto Joybuzz to get the most of that combo
So Paladin and Priest both have cheap spells that can be used to activate this minion's spellburst.
currently Paladin's are running the Libram package, with the Libram of Wisdom being so easily discounted and being able to return to hand it can be very easy for this minion to have this buff applied and then play either Libram of Justice or Libram of Hope for a massive swing turn.
Priests currently have Whispers of EVIL and Power word: Shield as a means to activate this minions effect on curve, and they're glut of buff spells means you can make this 3/6 into a 5/9 with life steal with Apotheosis, for example.
However, because this minion's text wants spells to be focused on her, you'll have to build your deck around her so she doesn't accidentally kill herself with say shadow word pain or subdue. Despite needing a deck built around her she will see home in Paladin and Priest decks in standard, I believe.
In the Arena it's not likely you'll get spells to activate her ability, but her stats aren't terrible
What makes this minion good isn't it's stats for cost but how it curves for Demon Hunter from Marrow Slicer into this, allowing for Demon Hunter to deal 9 damage with their weapon on turn 5 - which is pretty massive.
because of her ability to give your hero extra attack there's a potential for her to be placed in tempo OR control decks, tempo obviously wanting to deal extra damage for lethal and control to remove high value targets on your opponents side of the board.
Outside of it's soul fragment synergy this minion is just good enough to play in arena by itself, as I keep saying it's stats are pretty good.
3 mana 3/2 is pretty bad for stats, although a Bloodfen Raptor that comes with a board clear does sound pretty nice.
Demon Hunter's board removal is also pretty weak, they're very reliant on using either their face or minions, and they sometimes can't compete with opponents who can swarm the board if they don't have Altruis the Outcast in hand.
So another board clear available to DH is what they need for any hopes of a control shell.
3 mana AOE is not bad, it's seen play with Hellfire, and instead of 4 mana that also deals damage to your opponent it only damages minions, letting you save your health for later.
This minion's only weakness aside from it's cost is the requirement of a soul fragment in your deck. If you haven't been able to place any fragments this is a weak minion that will do nothing to win you the game
Historically speaking 4 mana 4/2 weapons have seen play in constructed -
Truesilver champion is a staple in a lot of control paladin decks before the Lightforged Zealot took it's deck slot, and the Wagglepick was used in Rogue Miracle shells for a while when RoS first launched.
Obviously a must include for Demon Hunters who want to use the Soul Fragment package, since 4 damage can clear most enemies and the soul fragments can be used to mitigate damage to your hero.
Even playable in Arena, for removal and surprise healing your opponent can't predict
This is a fun card, not great stat wise but she has an interesting effect.
There's no way to plan around what you will get with her, but since she has the unique ability to cycle through the discover effect she can be used to search for a spell needed on the turn she's played or possibly a spell needed to clear the board down the line.
She has a soft synergy with Speaker Gidra, since she'll be able to pull a spell to increase Gidra's attack without having to use a spell that's in your deck.
She won't be a win condition but will be a fun card to play with in Arena or Casual mode
3 mana, 3/4 for stats is playable in any deck, heck it's even good in arena on curve.
This legendary minion will want hunter to utilize their damaging spells for the most effective of removal available - Rapid fire which does only 1 damage now becomes a 1 mana removal. Snipe now kills anything your opponent plays and could be a huge blowout if your opponent doesn't play around it appropriately.
However like all value minions, it will become a target once it's on the field for your opponent to remove, and 4 health is pretty modest against most of the removal that's available in standard these days. Hunter as a class doesn't have the means to increase their minions health if their not a beast, and would have to resort to neutral minions to protect Professor Slate with either extra health from Beaming Sidekick or divine shield with Augmerchant.
Something else to consider, if all of your spells have poisonous, does that mean buff spells that are played could potentially kill your own friendly minions? would minions summoned by spells such as Animal Companion, Swarm of Locusts and Nagrand Slam! come into the field with poison?
With all of the spells revealed hunter's new damage spell is beast dependent, but cheap, possibly having a soft synergy with Prof Slate. However, it seems like Hunter's Beast package has been greatly improved, and this minion may not have room in Hunter's already crammed 3 mana slot.
You guys rule
Do we know if there's a third demon token from Demon Companion?
If her death quote isn't "but there was time now...!" I'll be disappointed
This waiting music is kinda whimsical and fun
This spell doesn't target big beasts, tho, only beasts 5 or lower.
Biggest beasts at the time of reveal to slot with this is King Mukla and Stranglethorn Tiger.
There's more options in wild I'll admit but not a whole lot more
At the time of this reveal there weren't a lot of 5 mana or lower minions you'll want to spend 7 mana on to summon from your deck.
Now that the full sets been revealed reviewing this card is much easier since Hunter and Druid received some nice 5 drop beasts for their standard repertoire.
In druid you'll want this to pull out Teacher's Pet (a 4/5 taunt with deathrattle: summon a 3 cost minion) and Twilight Runner (a 5/4 with stealth that draws you 2 cards whenever this attacks). You can use Embiggen before paying this spell in order to make the minions you summon much bigger, and with them having rush you will probably guarantee a kill with them. Outside of their usual ramp to cheat this spell out faster Druids now have access to Lightning Bloom which is a 0 mana gain 2 mana crystals that turn, it might make your next turn weak but if you pull out 2 5 mana minions on turn 5 you'll probably be ahead on the board.
Hunters can also get Teachers pet from this spell, along with their newly printed Krolusk Barkstripper and Bloated Python, but these are pretty weak in comparison to Twilight Runner or using embiggen and then playing this spell. Hunter also has some strong draw for minions they want with rush with the Diving Gryphon or Scavenger's Ingenuity, and while cheating out mid cost minions sounds good Hunter's current hand buff synergy will want them to play minions from hand, not summon from deck.
Hunter's last 1 mana weapon, Candleshot, saw play in construction until it rotated, and why wouldn't it?
it was cheap, flexible, it gave your hero immune while attacking and could be slotted into the popular spell hunter deck at the time (and other decks, for that matter).
This weapon is also cheap, flexible, but trades immunity for giving your minions rush or even a second attack phase like Hunter's The Beast Within, although instead of a random enemy minion it will attack whatever you attacked.
The best outcome is to have your minions do favorable trades or go face, and then use this on a high value target to have your board go after that threat so no damage missing.
And if you're running this weapon in your deck, you'll want to be running Ace Hunter Kreen, whose ongoing effect makes you and your minions immune while attacking on your turn.
Taunts are sort of a problem with this weapon, if you attack it first with your hero your minions will use their attack phase on it.
Cheap discover cards have always found a home in constructed, I believe this card is no exception.
Spell Mage and Spell Shaman have DESPERATELY needed some spell damage support for their archetypes, but more often than not slotting in a spell damage minion means having to remove a powerful spell from your deck you'd rather play.
For both classes this card can discover their class legendaries from AoO, Lady Vashj and Astromancer Solarian, as well as the spell damage minions that were introduced in RoS (although I believe that there will be MANY more spell damage minions introduced in this set). Discounting the minion by (1) makes it much more playable, as well, since what usually stops the spell damage minions from being played (aside from Malygos) is their cost and poor stats.
Other cards this spell synergies with is Mozaki, Master Duelist, Ras Frost whisper and Mana Cyclone to name a few.
This card can also be discovered by Magic Trick, Cobalt Spellkin, Wand Maker and Arcane Breath in standard, I'm not certain if Shaman can discover this spell in standard at this time.
Regardless, a cheap, flexible card that gives a discounted minion that benefits Shaman and Mage's playstyle of using powerful spells to win the game. will see play
This is a Big Minion that control Demon Hunter was needing for their toolkit.
Not only does it have impressive stats for cost (the legendary dragons save Deathwing are 9 mana 8/8 in stats roughly) but it's AOE effect can sap a significant amount of health and damage from your enemy's board with no way to prevent it.
Once this minion does land on your side of the field, your opponent will be forced to remove it or finish the match on that turn, less your Ancient Void Terror become too big to remove.
That said, this minion doesn't have TAUNT and at turn 9 it's very unlikely that your board will be filled with 1 health minions for this guy to remove. So say your board full of tokens is still around after this minion is played, you can easily play Savage Roar and Bloodlust and go face completely ignoring this minion.
There's also the fact that this minion does not have the Elusive ability, and control matchups will likely have an efficient spell removal for this guy. Mage's have Devolving missiles and polymorph, Shaman also has Devolving missiles and Hex, Warlocks have Siphon Soul and Keli'Dan the Breaker, Priest has Shadow Word: Death, Time Rip, Soul Mirror, Mind Control, Convincing Infiltrator (okay Priest has not worry about this minion, Paladins have Turalyon the Tenured, Equality and Consecration, Warriors have Lord Barov and Whirlwind, or Whirlwind and Execute, Hunters have Deadly Shot, Rogues can bounce it or use Flik Skyshiv to remove it and any copies you might have.
Druids only answer to this minion is in wild with Naturalize, they and other Demon Hunters will be in trouble against this minion.
This minion is an absolute slam pick in Arena. it's Big that just becomes BIGGER. it's perfect
This was not the minion I was expecting for Paladin and Warrior.
Both classes have historically enjoyed having their opponent's minions at 1 health so they can clear their board with spells like whirlwind or consecration.
Lord Barov's Deathrattle serves to help clear the board too, although he will potentially clear your board as well.
Warrior has the easiest time to activate it's death rattle on their turn, with risky skipper being a very popular minion since AoO made pirates popular, along with Sword and Board which is a 1 mana spell that deals a modest 2 damage, and slam can also be used to kill Lord Barov. If a minions' board is cleared before Barov's Deathrattle is activated, you could set up your own board with Armorsmith to gain armor and then use Battlerage to fill you hand.
For Paladin this minion has a clear synergy with their Silver hand recruit tokens, allowing the tiny 1/1 minions to trade into your opponents larger threats, or even setting up a consecration play (equality and consecration used to see play, but I believe Equality got nerfed which killed that combo). I'm not certain how a paladin would intentionally activate Barov's effect or if there's any synergy they have with this effect, either, though.
I love this guy's aesthetic
for it's cost this minions stats are pretty modest.
HOWEVER - REFRESHING YOUR MANA CRYSTALS IS PRETTY STRONG.
Druid historically loves to utilize their spells for either combos or to buff their minions.
In AoO Spell Druid adopted Exotic Mount Seller and Kael'Thas Sunstrider as their only minions, despite having Ysiel who makes spells cost (1) mana as one of their class legendaries from the set. Ysiel saw no play as she was incredibly expensive, and Spell druid was using the reduced cost bogbeam and Ironbark spells to help Kael'Thas cast an expensive spell for free or Exotic Mount Seller to flood the board. Ysiel, despite her cost reduction was actually anti-synergy with the current plan for druids.
Omu however is a different story - while his stats are modest for his cost, being able to refresh your mana crystals to give you essentially an extra turn is a massive play. The World Twig from KaC was often used as this, and there's been times when an adventure was won with the Druid class because you refreshed your mana crystals in one form or another.
For Druids this means another way to pull off combos with Malygos. Forum member Trimutius has mentioned a combo with placing this minion on the board, refreshing your mana crystals, using Maiev Shadowsong on him so he's dormant and can't be interacted with, and once he's available you can slap Malygos down and use the standard moonfire, swipe, swipe, moonfire combo for lethal. Although you could also probably use germination in that combo if you had to use a swipe for board clear
Ysiel may also see play with Omu, since they have a very, very soft synergy. You can play Omu, play say innervate, then play Ysiel, and then you can play high cost cards like Survivial of the fittest, making the two minions 9/8 and 9/9 respectively. But you'll probably want to discount them with Imprisoned Satyr or Jepetto Joybuzz to get the most of that combo
AHAHAHAHA oh my are they JOKING this card is CRAZY GOOD
I like these stats on 4 mana minions!
So Paladin and Priest both have cheap spells that can be used to activate this minion's spellburst.
currently Paladin's are running the Libram package, with the Libram of Wisdom being so easily discounted and being able to return to hand it can be very easy for this minion to have this buff applied and then play either Libram of Justice or Libram of Hope for a massive swing turn.
Priests currently have Whispers of EVIL and Power word: Shield as a means to activate this minions effect on curve, and they're glut of buff spells means you can make this 3/6 into a 5/9 with life steal with Apotheosis, for example.
However, because this minion's text wants spells to be focused on her, you'll have to build your deck around her so she doesn't accidentally kill herself with say shadow word pain or subdue. Despite needing a deck built around her she will see home in Paladin and Priest decks in standard, I believe.
In the Arena it's not likely you'll get spells to activate her ability, but her stats aren't terrible
AH, I like this card, means you have to be very careful what spells that are placed in your deck
5/5 in stats is acceptable for a 5 mana minion.
What makes this minion good isn't it's stats for cost but how it curves for Demon Hunter from Marrow Slicer into this, allowing for Demon Hunter to deal 9 damage with their weapon on turn 5 - which is pretty massive.
because of her ability to give your hero extra attack there's a potential for her to be placed in tempo OR control decks, tempo obviously wanting to deal extra damage for lethal and control to remove high value targets on your opponents side of the board.
Outside of it's soul fragment synergy this minion is just good enough to play in arena by itself, as I keep saying it's stats are pretty good.
3 mana 3/2 is pretty bad for stats, although a Bloodfen Raptor that comes with a board clear does sound pretty nice.
Demon Hunter's board removal is also pretty weak, they're very reliant on using either their face or minions, and they sometimes can't compete with opponents who can swarm the board if they don't have Altruis the Outcast in hand.
So another board clear available to DH is what they need for any hopes of a control shell.
3 mana AOE is not bad, it's seen play with Hellfire, and instead of 4 mana that also deals damage to your opponent it only damages minions, letting you save your health for later.
This minion's only weakness aside from it's cost is the requirement of a soul fragment in your deck. If you haven't been able to place any fragments this is a weak minion that will do nothing to win you the game
Historically speaking 4 mana 4/2 weapons have seen play in constructed -
Truesilver champion is a staple in a lot of control paladin decks before the Lightforged Zealot took it's deck slot, and the Wagglepick was used in Rogue Miracle shells for a while when RoS first launched.
Obviously a must include for Demon Hunters who want to use the Soul Fragment package, since 4 damage can clear most enemies and the soul fragments can be used to mitigate damage to your hero.
Even playable in Arena, for removal and surprise healing your opponent can't predict
This is a fun card, not great stat wise but she has an interesting effect.
There's no way to plan around what you will get with her, but since she has the unique ability to cycle through the discover effect she can be used to search for a spell needed on the turn she's played or possibly a spell needed to clear the board down the line.
She has a soft synergy with Speaker Gidra, since she'll be able to pull a spell to increase Gidra's attack without having to use a spell that's in your deck.
She won't be a win condition but will be a fun card to play with in Arena or Casual mode
3 mana, 3/4 for stats is playable in any deck, heck it's even good in arena on curve.
This legendary minion will want hunter to utilize their damaging spells for the most effective of removal available - Rapid fire which does only 1 damage now becomes a 1 mana removal. Snipe now kills anything your opponent plays and could be a huge blowout if your opponent doesn't play around it appropriately.
However like all value minions, it will become a target once it's on the field for your opponent to remove, and 4 health is pretty modest against most of the removal that's available in standard these days. Hunter as a class doesn't have the means to increase their minions health if their not a beast, and would have to resort to neutral minions to protect Professor Slate with either extra health from Beaming Sidekick or divine shield with Augmerchant.
Something else to consider, if all of your spells have poisonous, does that mean buff spells that are played could potentially kill your own friendly minions? would minions summoned by spells such as Animal Companion, Swarm of Locusts and Nagrand Slam! come into the field with poison?
With all of the spells revealed hunter's new damage spell is beast dependent, but cheap, possibly having a soft synergy with Prof Slate. However, it seems like Hunter's Beast package has been greatly improved, and this minion may not have room in Hunter's already crammed 3 mana slot.