The best token payoff Demon Hunter has yet received. This could be a problem. If Demon Hunter can discount it quickly enough, there's nothing stopping them from playing a Felosophy or two, slamming down two big bodies, then following up with Battleground Battlemaster like a souped-up Flesh Giant Warlock. Keep your eyes on this one. Maybe not this meta, but eventually we will see it in a top-Tier deck.
A very flexible Battlecry. None of the options are worth 8 mana by themselves, so it's a good thing you can choose two of them. Obviously patterned after Dr. Boom. I hope the Quests allow for a slower, grindier, value-oriented meta because that's the one where Heroes like Bru'kan and Cariel will shine.
A decent stall for slow Warrior decks, to be played at a time where you'd expect to lose all of your armor to the incoming damage anyway. It's pretty bad in any situation that isn't purely defensive, since unlike Shield Block it doesn't gain you any extra benefit. My guess is that this won't be a big part of the meta.
Probably the best name in the set and no I will not be defending my position. Maybe in a meta with a lot of big minions Deathrattle Hunter runs this. Rogue has some Deathrattle synergies, so.... Freeze Rogue? Probably not going to see a ton of play.
Really cool effect, VERY similar to one of the best cards from TESL: Altar of Despair (R.I.P.). While it doesn't provide the same kind of engine that Altar did, this is still a very cool card. It plays well with Eggs or other cheap Deathrattles; it can also be used to turn an Imp (or some other token) into a 2-Drop. I think Zoolock should try this out, they might be surprised at how good it is.
An interesting way to trigger Deathrattles, which could make it worth it to run Snowfall Graveyard since there's less waiting for the Deathrattle to trigger. Counterfeit Blade and Sketchy Information...maybe there's a deck here. We just need to figure out what Deathrattles work best.
Demon Hunter has a variety of cheap ways to increase its Attack, so it shouldn't be too difficult to trigger the Honor Kill. This would likely only see play in aggro DH lists since it rewards you for controlling the board by dealing damage to your opponent. A little bit clunky to make work, but I think it's worth a try because a 1/3 weapon for 1 is a good worst-case scenario (and you can always just ignore the effect and punch your opponent directly in the face).
I like the effect. An interesting way to do a AoE. Effectively, it turns every minion into a potential threat to wipe an aggressive opponent's board and become too big to handle. Really neat in combination with a Taunt minion. Good tool for Control Priest, if that becomes a thing again.
A decent Rush body for Buff Paladin. Could see play solely because most Paladin decks run Alliance Bannerman, Conviction (Rank 1), and Hand of A'dal and it already synergizes just with that small package. Definitely a fun thing to do with Handbuff and the Bridge.
1/3 for 1 with upside should at least be considered in aggressive decks. Because it's neutral it has more chances to find a deck, so I think that it's pretty likely we see this minion around. Paladin, with its many buffs, is the first thing that springs to mind.
Not likely to see play in Constructed, where a 5 Cost 6/6 that kills a 3-Drop weirdly isn't good enough, but I have a feeling this will see more than enough play in Arena.
I hope the "eat" mechanic finds its way onto more and more cards. This is a bit like a less-flexible Troublemaker, but what a tech card for a Big Paladin meta.
Lacks the reliability of Zilliax or Siamat. You probably want Rush most of the time, but you're rarely guaranteed to get it. (Also, doesn't synergize with anything that might double a Battlecry).
I picked Vanndar, and I'm having a blast so far. His discount creates some very powerful swings in all sorts of decks, and I'm sure the new expansion will give even more big minions for him to work with.
Very cool effect, love that it's the antithesis of Vanndar. Should do some cool things in aggressive decks, at least it gives them a new way to build their decks.
So Quest Warlock just found its new toy. Not sure if any of the other classes are as able to reliably manipulate their Health, so I'm thinking this sees very little play in classes that aren't Warlock.
"Billy Mays here for Warrior. Tired of not having a way to kill all those pesky damaged minions? Wish there was something you could do? Try Execute! But wait, there's more: Call in the next ten minutes and for just 1 mana more we'll throw in a board freeze! Just one more mana, and you can freeze all your opponents minions! Wow! What value! Offer not valid in Draenor."
The amount of hoops you have to jump through for this is pretty annoying: 1)You need to have a good Deathrattle minion die, 2)You need to have a good board of minions that you want to die, and 3) You need to have 4 mana. Zoolock could be fun with this, but if you've found a board that can carry this spell, it's probably just better to cast an AoE buff like Shady Bartender instead. Come find me when you've figured out a way for Zoolock to consistently get Greybough.
The best token payoff Demon Hunter has yet received. This could be a problem. If Demon Hunter can discount it quickly enough, there's nothing stopping them from playing a Felosophy or two, slamming down two big bodies, then following up with Battleground Battlemaster like a souped-up Flesh Giant Warlock. Keep your eyes on this one. Maybe not this meta, but eventually we will see it in a top-Tier deck.
A very flexible Battlecry. None of the options are worth 8 mana by themselves, so it's a good thing you can choose two of them. Obviously patterned after Dr. Boom. I hope the Quests allow for a slower, grindier, value-oriented meta because that's the one where Heroes like Bru'kan and Cariel will shine.
A decent stall for slow Warrior decks, to be played at a time where you'd expect to lose all of your armor to the incoming damage anyway. It's pretty bad in any situation that isn't purely defensive, since unlike Shield Block it doesn't gain you any extra benefit. My guess is that this won't be a big part of the meta.
Probably the best name in the set and no I will not be defending my position. Maybe in a meta with a lot of big minions Deathrattle Hunter runs this. Rogue has some Deathrattle synergies, so.... Freeze Rogue? Probably not going to see a ton of play.
Really cool effect, VERY similar to one of the best cards from TESL: Altar of Despair (R.I.P.). While it doesn't provide the same kind of engine that Altar did, this is still a very cool card. It plays well with Eggs or other cheap Deathrattles; it can also be used to turn an Imp (or some other token) into a 2-Drop. I think Zoolock should try this out, they might be surprised at how good it is.
An interesting way to trigger Deathrattles, which could make it worth it to run Snowfall Graveyard since there's less waiting for the Deathrattle to trigger. Counterfeit Blade and Sketchy Information...maybe there's a deck here. We just need to figure out what Deathrattles work best.
Demon Hunter has a variety of cheap ways to increase its Attack, so it shouldn't be too difficult to trigger the Honor Kill. This would likely only see play in aggro DH lists since it rewards you for controlling the board by dealing damage to your opponent. A little bit clunky to make work, but I think it's worth a try because a 1/3 weapon for 1 is a good worst-case scenario (and you can always just ignore the effect and punch your opponent directly in the face).
I like the effect. An interesting way to do a AoE. Effectively, it turns every minion into a potential threat to wipe an aggressive opponent's board and become too big to handle. Really neat in combination with a Taunt minion. Good tool for Control Priest, if that becomes a thing again.
A decent Rush body for Buff Paladin. Could see play solely because most Paladin decks run Alliance Bannerman, Conviction (Rank 1), and Hand of A'dal and it already synergizes just with that small package. Definitely a fun thing to do with Handbuff and the Bridge.
1/3 for 1 with upside should at least be considered in aggressive decks. Because it's neutral it has more chances to find a deck, so I think that it's pretty likely we see this minion around. Paladin, with its many buffs, is the first thing that springs to mind.
Not likely to see play in Constructed, where a 5 Cost 6/6 that kills a 3-Drop weirdly isn't good enough, but I have a feeling this will see more than enough play in Arena.
"Mom, can we get Defile?"
"We already have Defile at home."
The Defile at home:
I hope the "eat" mechanic finds its way onto more and more cards. This is a bit like a less-flexible Troublemaker, but what a tech card for a Big Paladin meta.
Lacks the reliability of Zilliax or Siamat. You probably want Rush most of the time, but you're rarely guaranteed to get it. (Also, doesn't synergize with anything that might double a Battlecry).
I picked Vanndar, and I'm having a blast so far. His discount creates some very powerful swings in all sorts of decks, and I'm sure the new expansion will give even more big minions for him to work with.
Very cool effect, love that it's the antithesis of Vanndar. Should do some cool things in aggressive decks, at least it gives them a new way to build their decks.
So Quest Warlock just found its new toy. Not sure if any of the other classes are as able to reliably manipulate their Health, so I'm thinking this sees very little play in classes that aren't Warlock.
"Billy Mays here for Warrior. Tired of not having a way to kill all those pesky damaged minions? Wish there was something you could do? Try Execute! But wait, there's more: Call in the next ten minutes and for just 1 mana more we'll throw in a board freeze! Just one more mana, and you can freeze all your opponents minions! Wow! What value! Offer not valid in Draenor."
There likely aren't enough X/1s in standard for this to make an impact, and Warlock has better ways to clear the board.
The amount of hoops you have to jump through for this is pretty annoying: 1)You need to have a good Deathrattle minion die, 2)You need to have a good board of minions that you want to die, and 3) You need to have 4 mana. Zoolock could be fun with this, but if you've found a board that can carry this spell, it's probably just better to cast an AoE buff like Shady Bartender instead. Come find me when you've figured out a way for Zoolock to consistently get Greybough.