Our Thoughts on The Deadmines' New Mage, Paladin, Priest & Rogue Cards Coming to Hearthstone

The Deadmines, United in Stormwind's mini set, is going be live in less than 24 hours, and we're just done with one of the tightest reveal season ever!

Now that we're able to have a look all the cards, we can see that this mini set has some recurring themes shared by multiple classes:

• Pirates: the main focus of the mini set - almost every class got one and there are some Neutral tools too!
• Parrots - Battlecry Beasts that replicate something you previously did.
• Tradeable: back and stronger than ever - now you get an additional bonus every time you Trade!

Now, remember that, as usual, the Deadmines mini-set will be purchasable with 2000 Gold or cash ($14.99 for the whole thing).

Quote From Blizzard

Delve into the Deadmines in the United in Stormwind Mini-Set, coming November 2! Edwin VanCleef and his crew are waiting for you with 35 unique new cards featuring Pirates and new Tradeable synergies! Get them in United in Stormwind packs, or get the entire 66-card Mini-Set for $14.99 or 2000 Gold!

Now let's see what we can expect from the Mage, Paladin, Priest and Rogue cards that the Deadmines will bring to the game. Have a good read!

In case you missed it, a few days ago we published our United in Stormwind mini-set prediction article - how well do you think we did?

--- banners ---

Mage

Remember Flame Lance? This is them now: feel old yet?

Getting to kill an opponent's minion and summon a body on your side of the field with the same effect is the definition of a proactive play, and it is what Mage wants to fight against aggressive opponents: fight for the board, survive (maybe with the help of Deepwater Evoker) and eventually win the game.

The fact that Arcane Overflow targets only enemy minions means that you should not be worried about killing some of your own stuff in case you decides to replicate it with Grey Sage Parrot or cast it from hand with Clumsy Courier, which is definitely a remarkable plus.

Survivability for a class like Mage isn't something to be picky about, especially since you can manipulate the amount of Armor you'll get out of Deepwater Evoker. To be more specific, in an hypothetical Big Spell Mage, you'll almost always be able to gain 5+ Armor out of this, which makes this card a strictly better Shieldmaiden.

You can also include it in a deck with the Arcane Overflow you see above, so that you'll be able to build a rather strong curve.

We think that Deepwater Evoker is a very good unit, but (just like Grey Sage Parrot) it doesn't seem to be able to express its full potential as things are right now.

Just as we said three months ago with Clumsy Courier, Big Spell Mage is one of the fan favorite archetypes since Kobolds & Catacombs, but the problem is that the deck cannot actually work without... big spells!

Right now, the class does not have many expensive spells in its arsenal. For example, Flamestrike and Deep Freeze are not bad by any means, but also not exactly relevant in most matchups of the current meta. We could make an argument about Mask of C'Thun, which Grey Sage Parrot perfectly curves into for a total of 20 damage to enemy characters evenly split across two turns, but we dare to say that we expect more from an archetype like the one we're talking about.

All in all, not a bad card: it just lacks valid support.

Paladin

Wealth Redistributor may not be the flashiest card in the mini-set, but it is a solid one for sure! First of all, it comes with 8 Health  and the Taunt keyword: aggressive opponents will have to waste quite the resources to get through this unit and keep going for your throat.

Secondly, if you read it carefully, Redistrubutor's effect does include itself: for example, you can give its 2 Attack to the only enemy minion on board and gain the latter's one - pretty flexible!

Thirdly, even though we are talking about a very niche interaction, this unit synergizes with N'Zoth, God of the Deep. May ever Menagerie Paladin come back, it will now have the Pirate spot covered by a high-Health Taunt.

On the negative side, Wealth Redistributor is quite awkward with handbuffs, as its 'swap' effect will become less and less effective as you increase the unit's attack. This is true, of course, as long as you want to take away power from your opponent: if you with to buff your own stuff... well, it doesn't seem to be the most efficient way to use the card, but you can do it!

On paper, this almost looks like Assassinate for 1 less mana, with Holy synergy (Cariel Roame) and that contributes to your handbuff game plan. However, there are quite a few things that make us doubt of Righteous Defense.

On one side, Libram Paladin really wants the removal-side of Righteous Defense, but they do not run many minions that could benefit from some extra stats. Sure, Aldor Attendant and Aldor Truthseeker wouldn't mind getting bigger, but if you hit stuff like Lady Liadrin and Lord Barov, then Righteous Defense's secondary effect is pretty much wasted.

On the other hand, Handbuff obviously loves the aforementioned secondary effect, but you also want to be the one controlling the board and pushing damage: falling behind just to get a chance to gain value off Righteous Defense doesn't seem to be optimal.

For this spell to become relevant, the future Deadmines meta will have to be more board-focused, with less decks aiming to kill you with hand-burst and therefore with more archetypes willing to fight for the board. Time will tell.

Solid, solid card for Paladin. The fact that you're not limited to the spells you casted in the same turn, but just to the last one casted in chronological order makes Sunwing Squawker a remarkably better unit.

Paladin currently have lots of buffs spells you may want to replicate with Squawker:

• while Libram of Wisdom may not be the most appealing option;
• Hand of A'dal gives you a 4 mana 5/5 that draws a card;
• Libram of Hope doesn't heal you, but summons an additional Ancient Guardian - nutty;
• Blessing of Authority gives you a 4 mana 11/12 which, believe it or not, isn't bad;
• Noble Mount grants you lots of stickiness and it is very hard to deal with for your opponent.

These parrot minions are no joke.

Priest

Let's compare this to a rather similar card: Blink Fox. Both of them can give you crap sometimes, but the cards your opponent puts in your deck are usually better than random ones. Yes, your opponent will have the chance to play around Copycat's effect and give you something not that relevant, but you can actually plan ahead and drop this unit, for example, right before your opponent's Questline's completion, so that they'll have to be careful and not give you what they worked hard to achieve.

All in all, Copycat represents a value card with not many hopes of breaking the format, but it does give you the chance to have some really mean plays!

Now, that is an interesting card. When it was revealed, people started freaking about thinking about Res Priest shenanigans, but... is the raw material here? Standard doesn't have Obsidian Statue or Convincing Infiltrator anymore, with Scrapyard Colossus being the only real threat in this direction.

Other remarkable targets could be Shadowed Spirit, Lightshower Elemental and... Elwynn Boar, but remember that Control/grindy Priest currently doesn't stand a chance in the current meta.

However, no hope (or despair?) is lost: Amulet of Undying is definitely in for becoming a strong finisher for late game shenanigans in future sets, when the meta may drift away from the combo-centric scenarios we're used nowadays.

See, this card is good, but there's one problem. The current iterations of Shadow Priest are very aggressive and therefore heavy on minions, just like Face Hunter. However, that reduces the changes of Defias Leper to ever be good in the deck, because you won't be able to guarantee its Battlecry to trigger without rethinking part of the archetype.

We are not sayin that this is a bad card (the other way around: we think it's pretty good), but it's just that Shadow Priest may need some more support or a partial restyling for Leper to perform at its best.

Also, this card is completely nutty in Wild: not only because it's damage on a stick, but also because it fetches out Patches the Pirate and gives you more Ship's Cannon triggers.

Rogue

After just 7 months of absence, Edwin is back, and still looks very strong! To be more precise, Edwin, Defias Kingpin retains Edwin VanCleef's flavor, while being an upside-down version of its original self.

In fact, OG Edwin required you to play cards before it in order to exploit its powerful Combo effect; however, Edwin, Defias Kingpin is more of a Gadgetzan Auctioneer/Questing Explorer kind of effect, as it grows in power with every card you play off its Battlecry.

In order to use it at its best, it is clear that discount effects are going to be vital: Efficient Octo-bot looks again a very solid miracle-activator, potentially in a deck that backs up Field Contact with Edwin for more board pressure.

All in all, we think this unit is going to cause less discontent than the original Edwin VanCleef, but it will still be a very strong tool that Valeera will abuse as much as possible.

P.S.: note that this is also a Pirate, so you have that one synergy to take into account as well.

Pretty much like Savory Deviate Delight, Parrrley represents a very situational tech card aimed to have a laugh at your opponent more than to be considered competitively.

However, one thing is certain: you'll never see this card being played, but the first time your opponent will cast it, it will irremediably screw you, generating an permanent scar in your self-esteem...

Let's start with the stats: 1 mana for a 2/2 weapon is no joke at all! We get that Bloodclaw was meant to have synergy with the whole Heal Paladin thing back in the day, but the comparison is just gross.

Moreover, the Tradeable effect attached to Blackwater Cutlass acts as if you store away the Mana Crystal you spend, which is quite the amusing effect.

However, we struggle to see where this card could fit. What deck would actually want to run this? Maybe Weapon Rogue? We shall see.

What do you think about these cards? Are there any you're excited to play with? Let us know in the comments below!