Oh, so that's where my demons hide! Don't know how I missed them, the class is right there on the timetable.

I actually took a majority of the reviews this time (as I reviewed the entire Soul Fragment mechanic), so for once I can honestly say that every review here is definitely accurate. After all, I have played Hearthstone; I've reached like, Rank 4; I missed the card back last month because I only played Battlegrounds. I know what I'm talking about, clearly.

Spirit Jailer Card Image
 Soul Fragment Card Image

Detention with Malicia is no joke.

Quote From ShadowsOfSense

I'm going to use this first review as a place to discuss the Soul Fragment mechanic in general. This is an incredibly powerful mechanic, and I think that a lot of people are underestimating it because they're too busy trying to look at every piece of it instead of appreciating how powerful it is on its own. This is strong healing for two classes that really want that.

Ignore the synergy cards (both explicit and subtle) for a moment, and look at the Fragments themselves - each one is, somewhere down the line, a free Heal 2 to your face. They replace themselves as they're drawn, so they're never a particularly bad card to draw. For both Demon Hunter and Warlock, classes which love to sacrifice their Health for power, this allows them to continue to apply pressure throughout the game. I would not be surprised if Soul Fragment cards were more often run simply for the Soul Fragments themselves, ignoring the cards that ask you to sacrifice some of them for an extra effect (as powerful as some of those effects are). I mean, Warlocks have run cards like Earthen Ring Farseer before!

Spirit Jailer, for example. A 1 mana 1/3 is already a very good statline, as has been seen in the past, and this has an additional ability that is only slightly worse than a Heal 4 to the face; in fact, sometimes it's better to delay the healing, as it means this can be dropped on turn 1 without inherently wasting the healing. It's also a Demon, a synergy which could reasonably matter should you want it to. This card is a fantastic workhorse, and I expect to see it a lot.

The synergies with cards like Plot Twist and Supreme Archaeology are notable, of course, so I'll mention them here as something you should keep in mind for every Soul Fragment generator.

Soul Shear Card Image

Measure lives; cut once.

Quote From ShadowsOfSense

Penance is feeling a bit upstaged at the moment, I think. Minion removal isn't something that Warlock or Demon Hunter struggle with, but the additional healing could make this worth including, depending on the kind of deck you're running - a Warlock with plenty of Dragons would prefer Nether Breath, for example, but this makes for a good substitute in non-Dragon focused decks.

Of course, the fact that it can't hit face is a big downside. That distinction was part of what made [Hearthstone Card (Dark Bomb) Not Found] so good back in the day, despite being so simple. I think this is actually a significantly weaker card than Spirit Jailer, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it cut in lists that weren't trying for a heavy focus on the Fragment mechanic.

Felosophy Card Image

"So when you think about it, the Alliance have been the bad guys all along!"

Quote From Demonxz95

Just like Teacher's Pet that we saw 2 articles ago, this is another card that's 10/10 for the pun. One thing I think we've learned in Hearthstone is that effects that add copies of things to your hand are usually pretty decent (unless it's Moorabi). This card is no exception. 1 mana to add a copy of something you put in your deck to your hand is not bad by any stretch, and the minion doesn't even have to be in play for you to be able to copy it. Remember when Simulacrum was played in Quest Mages to copy their Sorcerer's Apprentices? This reminds me of that, except it's 1 mana instead of 3. Granted, Simulacrum was part of an OTK combo, whereas Felosophy isn't, but that's still really good value. Maybe you copy your Spirit Jailers to get even more Soul Fragments into your deck? Or, even just copy a good 1-drop with a useful Battlecry. There's quite a bit you can do with this. That's not even mentioning the fact that playing it from Outcast will give both (the original copy and the new one created by this card) +1/+1. I'd say that's pretty good.

Soulciologist Malicia Card Image

She likes studying human behaviour - for example, how does having your soul stolen make you feel?

Quote From ShadowsOfSense

This one is an interesting puzzle.

As I said before, I think that the Soul Fragments themselves are actually powerful enough on their own to find their way into decks that aren't focused around them. The question then becomes not if Soulciologist Malicia is good enough to make you want to play Soul Fragments, but simply how many Soul Fragment generators are enough for Malicia to be good.

The trick in the balancing act is that Malicia is actively harmed by including some of the other Soul Fragment synergy cards, as they all involve removing Fragments from your deck for a benefit. Is her effect better than theirs, to the point that you would rather include her than them at all? Is it the other way around? Or is there some middle ground, where Malicia and the other synergy cards can be juggled in the same deck with a decent number of activators helping to form a cohesive gameplan?

My gut instinct is that Malicia's effect is not impressive enough to warrant including her over the other synergy cards, and honestly I don't know if I'd want to include her even if I only ever intended to use the Fragments as healing. Both Warlock and Demon Hunter have better board control options than this expensive card which requires a decent amount of set-up. I'll pass on this class.