The end of the Year of the Phoenix is around the corner, and with it, Rise of Shadows, Saviors of Uldum and Descent of Dragons will leave the Standard format to join Wild. Therefore, it is time to look back and see what we're going to leave behind in the next few days.
For this exact purpose, we present you a series of articles in which the staff of Out Of Cards will share with everyone the cards we'll miss and the ones we'll be glad to not face anymore.
This time, we're taking a look at Descent of Dragons and what we're going to miss the most from that set - enjoy!
Aesan - Flik Skyshiv
I love Flik! I love Shadowstep with Flik! Awesome unique mechanic (where were you during Jade Druid times, friend), awesome art, awesome animation, awesome card reveal by Firebat, everything about the card was just awesome. Okay, maybe not the statline or the mana cost, but we can't be too picky.
I always tried to slot Flik into any Rogue deck I could, debating against which enemy minions the "drop from the sky and destroy" effect would be the most punishing (we couldn't just play for tempo, that's no fun). Ah, I'm a little sad now. Will be waiting for a worthy successor. Or maybe a grand return to the Core Set at some point.
Avalon - Ysera, Unleashed
Even though does see play in Wild Jade Druid and therefore I'll have chances to play her again even after the rotation, boy what card we're going to lose. A value bomb that was able by itself to close out games, it was often a very skill-testing card, since you had to be good enough to draw your Portals when you actually needed them, but the upside was worth all the tempo lost by playing the card.
Ysera, Unleashed was also an insta-pick from Emerald Explorer, even though I'm glad they changed how Discovery works right before Descent of Dragons, having to deal with pretty much 3 Yseras per game would've been way too much for everything and everyone.
Moreover, it has a gorgeous entry line, music and animation - literally a beautiful and strong card I'll miss auto-including in every single Druid deck I'll ever build from now on in Standard. Sleep now!
BloodMefist - Dark Skies
Descent of Dragons has a lot of cards I'm going to miss, such as Dragon's Hoard and Mindflayer Kaahrj, but Dark Skies is going to leave a major mark. Warlock is by far my favorite class and this spell was one of my favorite cards to play: its flexibility in being able to answer wide or tall threats was very unique and loved how they pushed HandLock in DoD. Dark Skies has been a staple in every Control Warlock since its release and I am severely going to miss the rapid-fire meteor animation.
Demonxz95 - Hunter's Inspire Package
For Descent of Dragons, I've got a 3-for-1 of what I affectionately refer to as the "Midrange Hunter Trio" of the set. Is this cheating? Yes, but I love this grouping of cards too much. Dwarven Sharpshooter, Phase Stalker and Dragonbane. Midrange Hunter is one of my favorite archetypes in all of Hearthstone because it's such a laid-back deck to play that, regardless of meta, can reliably climb you up out of a few rank floors. These three cards right here made it a fairly solid strategy for quite a few sets, but they were also just super fun to play and made my experience with the deck even more enjoyable.
FrostyFeet - Galakrond, the Tempest (Or None)
Yet again I struggled to think of any card I'll truly be missing, especially after Dark Skies was already taken by BloodMefist (such a good removal tool). I did have some fun with Galakronds, especially the Shaman one when it still was playable and for a short while after it as well, I think. Shaman is not a class I play too often but for a season or two, Galakrond Shaman was my deck of choice when I felt like playing Ranked. It's probably too optimistic to think that the nerf reverts would be enough to make the strategy viable in Wild but one can dream.
OldManSanns - Dragons
The Dragons. All of them. They are the most iconic fantasy creature, and the Year of the Dragon did a great job making sure they were accessible to every class and to both competitive and budget players. We had Galakrond decks, where you literally turned into a Dragon; we had Frizz Kindleroost decks where you played hard into the tribal synergy; we had Dragons who were just good enough to merit generic inclusion in decks, like Dragonqueen Alexstrasza and Veranus. There are currently 50 dragon cards in Standard (not including Galakrond Hero cards) and synergy cards like Stormhammer. Sure, there will still be some dragons left after rotation, but there's no denying that Hearthstone is leaving its "peak Dragon" phase.
Sule - Skydiving Instructor
I'll miss definitely trying to make Skydiving Instructor work. I tried a lot of different aggro decks (mostly Druid) that used Instructor to Patches a 1-Drop into play. My favorite synergy was using Embiggen to make my Wisps 1 mana 3/3s that Skydiving Instructor could tutor. Regardless of the deck, I always enjoyed trying to figure out ways to "break" this underwhelming 3-drop.
Do you agree with our choices? Which cards from Descent of Dragons are you going to miss the most after rotation? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
I'm tired of all but Flik Skyshiv. That is a fantastic card, strategic but not overbearing.
I played a lot of Token Treant, and I just enjoy her screaming whatever it was she screamed when played.
I love that these seem to have a bad card that someone was like “I’m going to make this work!” That’s like me with Val’anyr!
nuf said
Great art and fantastic summon music, he will be missed.
CATACLYSM!!!
Sule, you may enjoy playing Skydivjng Instructor to tutor Cleric in inner fire priest in Wild, it's lovely.
what's the exact time when the new expansion goes live??
Probably 8:00 A.M. (PT). That is when most updates are.
I'll miss Murozond the Infinite and Mindflayer Kaahrj a lot. These are probably the most fun minions that Priest had in a long time. Murozond was an incredible way of getting some good value while still generating a threat and it is my favorite card in the game. Kaahrj is the most flexible minion that Priest has and it baffles me that they didn't choose him for the core set as he works well for Tempo archetypes and also scales well into the late game by copying the opponent's big threats. I'd take Murozond as well as it is powerful but requires planning to be used well. Instead, we got the amazingly garbage Natalie Seline again, one of the most underwhelming and uninspired cards of all time. Priest got screwed over hard with that core set.
Honorable mention to Deathwing, Mad Aspect. Incredible animation and very useful for Control and Big Warrior.
What a set. Dragonqueen Alex, Ysera, Deathwing, all the Galakronds, the Explorers, yes even Murozond even though I hated him... you go down the list and find even "lesser" dragons had utility enough to maindeck (Evasive Wyrm, Cobalt Spellkin) or were delightful to discover when you need them (Evasive Drakonid and Twin Tyrant to save your bacon when behind!). The Galakrond gimmick in general took all the lessons learned from the earlier C'Thun experiments and Death Knight experiments and delivered something that felt good and fun and different.
More favorites: Rolling Fireball, Faceless Corruptor, Lightforged Zealot, Ancharr, the Hunter midrange package (midrange Highlander Hunter was my first legend deck), Sidequests...
Then toss in Galakrond's Awakening and we get Rising Winds (too many choices!), Fist of Ra-Den, Escaped Manasaber, and even the meme himself-- The Amazing Reno.
My gosh. This set.
IMO, this is the best expansion in Hearthstone's history. And that's not coz I'm biased towards dragons 😋 the power level of the majority of cards was insane.
DQA, the not so broken highlander card... will miss her