So at worst you're looking at paying 6 mana for somewhere around 20 to 24 combined attack and health. That's not bad. Maybe Menagerie Shaman could be a thing, but obviously you'd want to do something with these minions on board. I like it. If Shaman gets more board buffs I could be really into it.
Random Legendaries, as fun as they are, aren't very good (especially if they get shuffled into the deck rather than added to hand). Making them Cost 1 will lead to some very swingy games - if the Druid draws a couple of Legendaries they likely win, if not they probably lose. Unless Druid has some turbo draw options, this will be a meme card and not much else.
If Spell Damage Druid is going to be a thing, this might be the most important part of the deck. Who needs Ramp when you have Mana cheating? Reminds me of Glacial Advance, but obviously better with Spell Damage. Sounds like a lot of fun, for the Druid.
If you're a deck that needs to run a lot of Beasts, this could be a niche 1-Drop to try. I don't think we'll be seeing very much of this card, just like we didn't see very much of Jeweled Scarab.
Token Egg. It's fun, but I don't think it will be very strong. I am a big fan of Token Druid, though, so I'm not averse to trying this out in that deck.
This is just good, like really good. Obviously you need Dragons in hand for it to pay off but you're probably running a lot of Dragons if you're playing this card. Exceptional early game for any Dragon deck or even a Menagerie deck.
Could be a neat disruption tool for an aggressive deck to buy a turn against Control. You won't always get the Secrets you want but you might just find you'll get the Secrets you need.
This card is very good. You get high-Cost spells tutored into 1-Cost minions. Basically, I want to run this in a minion-heavy Wish Upon a Star deck. Pack the House is also a pretty neat option (weirdly, there don't seem to be too many high-Cost Shaman spells in Standard at the moment - I wonder why that is?).
The main problem is that you need this in hand to start upgrading. Demon Hunter has access to a lot of alternative card draw options, so you'd need to be able to regularly upgrade this fully while contending with a dead card in hand for it to outshine those other cards; which means you'd need more than just Going Down Swinging as a way to get your Hero to attack multiple times in a turn.
I'd have to check the Rush pool, but maybe there's a minion that some deck would want to tutor so badly they'd play this. Otherwise, I can see it in Handbuff decks, since minions that draw other minions are always welcome in that archetype. This isn't 2016 - Murloc decks aren't a thing.
I love this card; both the flavor and the effect (and I hope this means that Harth's Demon Hunter "iconic" hand gets back the cards as they were rather than a handful of "Hey, remember when these cards were playable?"). Because of the randomness, it might be a little weak for a top tier deck, but I for one would love to give it a try.
I think Rogue is currently the only class that cares about Pirates, but has enough ways to cheaply summon or play Pirates that this could be a premium 1-Drop for that deck. Don't forget: Raiding Party is back, so it's not like Rogue is on a desert island when it comes to Pirate support.
This is a 4-Drop that every class can include in a deck, and it's basically a Piloted Shredder that always hits a 2-Drop with good stats, then that 2-Drop summons a decent 1-Drop. It feels like this will find a home or two in very good decks. I know that this is Hearthstone in 2024 and stats aren't necessarily the king, but I feel really good about this prediction.
OK, here's a weird idea: Totem Shaman. You've hopefully already cast Stonewright, so you play this then a Coin (or some other 0 Cost spell) and you get a board full of 2 Attack Ancient Totem.
That's it. That's all I can come up with. This card is probably not very good.
If you're an Elemental Shaman looking to keep your Skarr chain going, this is a good option for your deck. The Frost spells being both 1)random and 2)temporary makes me a little wary of it doing anything good other than being a 3/3 Elemental that gives me a 1/1 Elemental. That being said, it sounds like a fun time.
I like it a lot. Works well for a Buff Paladin deck, gives a cheap Divine Shield body for Divine Shield Matters card which apparently are a thing Blizzard is going to keep doing for Paladin. A lot of the cheaper Miniaturize cards I think will see play simply because they're effectively two cards for the space of one, which is usually a good deal.
Hot Garbage. Pay 8 to do something that isn't strong, and do it so that in 5 turns you might win. Unless you're somehow able to get extra turns (which you could probably use to kill your opponent on your own), I don't see how you can regularly win playing this card. I really don't want it to prove me wrong: I don't want this card to exist.
Gives you back any Minis you've played that game (which I'm assuming is one of the intended uses); so if you're a Mini deck this feels like a candidate for inclusion. As mentioned above, Astral Automaton is a good target, as is the new Jade Display. Niche, could find a home. I don't expect it to be a key piece in a Tier 1 or 2 deck, though.
Build your own Defile. This is exceptional for Control Death Knight - an early way to clear the board with a Hero Power ghoul (or whatever you may have lying around on the board). I think this card is bonkers good - we're going to be seeing a lot of it in the coming years.
Enabler for Big Demon Hunter? The initial 5 Cost investment is just slightly too rich, but if there are enough big Demons to Discover with powerful effects (which don't rely on their stats) then this could work out. My initial reaction is that there isn't enough support for Big Demons in Demon Hunter for this to be more than a meme card.
So at worst you're looking at paying 6 mana for somewhere around 20 to 24 combined attack and health. That's not bad. Maybe Menagerie Shaman could be a thing, but obviously you'd want to do something with these minions on board. I like it. If Shaman gets more board buffs I could be really into it.
Random Legendaries, as fun as they are, aren't very good (especially if they get shuffled into the deck rather than added to hand). Making them Cost 1 will lead to some very swingy games - if the Druid draws a couple of Legendaries they likely win, if not they probably lose. Unless Druid has some turbo draw options, this will be a meme card and not much else.
If Spell Damage Druid is going to be a thing, this might be the most important part of the deck. Who needs Ramp when you have Mana cheating? Reminds me of Glacial Advance, but obviously better with Spell Damage. Sounds like a lot of fun, for the Druid.
If you're a deck that needs to run a lot of Beasts, this could be a niche 1-Drop to try. I don't think we'll be seeing very much of this card, just like we didn't see very much of Jeweled Scarab.
Token Egg. It's fun, but I don't think it will be very strong. I am a big fan of Token Druid, though, so I'm not averse to trying this out in that deck.
This is just good, like really good. Obviously you need Dragons in hand for it to pay off but you're probably running a lot of Dragons if you're playing this card. Exceptional early game for any Dragon deck or even a Menagerie deck.
Could be a neat disruption tool for an aggressive deck to buy a turn against Control. You won't always get the Secrets you want but you might just find you'll get the Secrets you need.
This card is very good. You get high-Cost spells tutored into 1-Cost minions. Basically, I want to run this in a minion-heavy Wish Upon a Star deck. Pack the House is also a pretty neat option (weirdly, there don't seem to be too many high-Cost Shaman spells in Standard at the moment - I wonder why that is?).
The main problem is that you need this in hand to start upgrading. Demon Hunter has access to a lot of alternative card draw options, so you'd need to be able to regularly upgrade this fully while contending with a dead card in hand for it to outshine those other cards; which means you'd need more than just Going Down Swinging as a way to get your Hero to attack multiple times in a turn.
I'd have to check the Rush pool, but maybe there's a minion that some deck would want to tutor so badly they'd play this. Otherwise, I can see it in Handbuff decks, since minions that draw other minions are always welcome in that archetype. This isn't 2016 - Murloc decks aren't a thing.
I love this card; both the flavor and the effect (and I hope this means that Harth's Demon Hunter "iconic" hand gets back the cards as they were rather than a handful of "Hey, remember when these cards were playable?"). Because of the randomness, it might be a little weak for a top tier deck, but I for one would love to give it a try.
I think Rogue is currently the only class that cares about Pirates, but has enough ways to cheaply summon or play Pirates that this could be a premium 1-Drop for that deck. Don't forget: Raiding Party is back, so it's not like Rogue is on a desert island when it comes to Pirate support.
This is a 4-Drop that every class can include in a deck, and it's basically a Piloted Shredder that always hits a 2-Drop with good stats, then that 2-Drop summons a decent 1-Drop. It feels like this will find a home or two in very good decks. I know that this is Hearthstone in 2024 and stats aren't necessarily the king, but I feel really good about this prediction.
OK, here's a weird idea: Totem Shaman. You've hopefully already cast Stonewright, so you play this then a Coin (or some other 0 Cost spell) and you get a board full of 2 Attack Ancient Totem.
That's it. That's all I can come up with. This card is probably not very good.
If you're an Elemental Shaman looking to keep your Skarr chain going, this is a good option for your deck. The Frost spells being both 1)random and 2)temporary makes me a little wary of it doing anything good other than being a 3/3 Elemental that gives me a 1/1 Elemental. That being said, it sounds like a fun time.
I like it a lot. Works well for a Buff Paladin deck, gives a cheap Divine Shield body for Divine Shield Matters card which apparently are a thing Blizzard is going to keep doing for Paladin. A lot of the cheaper Miniaturize cards I think will see play simply because they're effectively two cards for the space of one, which is usually a good deal.
Hot Garbage. Pay 8 to do something that isn't strong, and do it so that in 5 turns you might win. Unless you're somehow able to get extra turns (which you could probably use to kill your opponent on your own), I don't see how you can regularly win playing this card. I really don't want it to prove me wrong: I don't want this card to exist.
Gives you back any Minis you've played that game (which I'm assuming is one of the intended uses); so if you're a Mini deck this feels like a candidate for inclusion. As mentioned above, Astral Automaton is a good target, as is the new Jade Display. Niche, could find a home. I don't expect it to be a key piece in a Tier 1 or 2 deck, though.
Build your own Defile. This is exceptional for Control Death Knight - an early way to clear the board with a Hero Power ghoul (or whatever you may have lying around on the board). I think this card is bonkers good - we're going to be seeing a lot of it in the coming years.
Enabler for Big Demon Hunter? The initial 5 Cost investment is just slightly too rich, but if there are enough big Demons to Discover with powerful effects (which don't rely on their stats) then this could work out. My initial reaction is that there isn't enough support for Big Demons in Demon Hunter for this to be more than a meme card.