The Forgotten Wilds of Hearthstone - The Valiance of the Holy Gorillas

Well met! It's time for another issue of "The Forgotten Wilds of Hearthstone" series, where we investigate four long-forgotten Wild cards -one per rarity- that was missing the action for a long time. We will give you some insights by looking into the history behind these cards and then help you build a deck around them. Let's look at some examples from previous chapters to have a better understanding of what these articles are about:

• On #1, Enhance-o Mechano was mentioned as an alternative finisher in Mech archetypes. Let's say you don't have enough dust to craft Zilliax. Why don't you craft this bot to grant your Mechs Windfury to double the burst potential?
• On #2, Lock and Load was under the spotlight. As a permanent Mana Cyclone upon played, who could say no to generate more value like Mage does as Hunter? This card is the reason as to why I still play Spell Hunter.
• On #3, Nexus-Champion Saraad was mentioned as a superstar card of Casino Mage archetype.

With all things crystal clear, let's jump right into our preciously chosen four lost cards. Starting with...

Is it a Mecharoo? No, it's a Mecharilla!

Since its introduction in League of Explorers adventure, abbreviated as LoE and released on November 12th, 2015, this monkey bot was an auto-include in respective Mech archetypes at that time. Mostly added within Mech Mage decks, it was here to not run out of steam. I had good moments with this bot in my Mech Rogue and Mech Warlock decks too.

After the "rise of Mechs" with The Boomsday Project expansion, I started playing my lovely gorilla again. Maybe you can find Metaltooth Leaper or Enhance-o Mechano to close up the game, who knows? Shockingly, I encountered Gorillabot A-3 little to none after the release of The Boomsday Project expansion in Wild, as opposed to the times I faced this bot a lot in late-2015. So, why don't you give this deck a try? It's very cheap -consisting of only Common and Rare cards- and monkey bots will help you to generate some extra resources.

If you want to play with your bot monkeys more, these decks might help.

Totemic Valiance

As a brave Shaman, he rallied his totems well to encourage them raising a well-known archetype that dominated Hearthstone meta for a long time: Totem Shaman. Belonging to The Grand Tournament expansion, which came out on August 24th, 2015, he was one of the most dangerous cards in Totem Shaman. If you wonder why, here we go:

• Giving a permanent +2 Attack to totems was incredibly strong compared to Totem Shaman in 2019.
• Flametongue Totem was 2-Mana, meaning that you can tackle your opponent down faster than usual.
• At that time, Tuskarr Totemic could summon any totem, which made for plenty of Totem Golem.
• With that strong -and lots of basic- totems spammed, boosting their attack power with Thunder Bluff Valiant caused your opponent confusions because one couldn't decide which to deal with. Struggles, head-aches and rage-quits were the results for your opponent.
• Also, this deck was a Midrange deck. Midrange Hunter and Midrange Shaman decks were a pain in the arse to deal with because of how fast they were.

Once strong in 2015 and late-2016, golden ages of Midrange decks, now lost in current meta of Hearthstone. However, Watermelon86 found a way to restore the former glory of Thunder Bluff Valiant.

Don't forget; there is a lot of steak here.

Brother of Zephrys: Djinni of Zephyrs

A lost genie from League of Explorers timeline in 2015, brought you back for Miracle archetypes. Although he didn't see much play at all, with the exception of some sort of Divine Spirit/Inner Fire shenanigans, he was used as a meme-approach for doubling the chances of eliminating your opponent, which can be seen in a video from the past below thanks to abuse of a buggy interaction between Djinni of Zephyrs and Potion of Madness:

(Note that this interaction was fixed a long time ago)

So, here is the offer: Try him in a Miracle build in today's Wild meta.

Reasons are:

• The elemental tag was given to him during the mid-2017, some time after Journey to Un'Goro expansion was released. Thus, an Elemental Miracle deck is possible, which fits perfectly for Priest class.
• Imagine him alongside Lyra and Radiant.

Then, have a look at this deck. The deck guide includes more information regarding the deck.

Looking for more decks including him? Your wish is my suggestion.

Eadric the Purist

As a pure defender of the Light, he was printed in The Grand Tournament expansion. If the Light and Fortuna were with you, you would have seen Eadric within Control Paladin decks, because I did. Although he rarely saw play, he was utilized as an alternative trump card alongside Equality+Consecration back then to reduce the damage output of your opponent's board, which can be kind of considered as an AOE card.

Nowadays, Equality costs 4-Mana compared to 2-Mana in the past, so Equality+Consecration combo is not worth playing for such a huge cost. That's where Eadric the Pure shines: A "pure" counter to decks generating colossal minions such as Jade Druid. If you wish, you can try him alongside cards such as Enter the Coliseum and Shrink Ray in a Highlander Paladin deck, seen below.

If that is not enough for you, prepare yourself for the ultimate decks!

That's all for today. Let us know in the comments which cards you feel don't get the time of day anymore and maybe we'll shine the spotlight on them next!