Friday 8th's reveal schedule for the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion gave us the first and only Demon Hunter card so far: we're talking about the Location Relic Vault.
While it's nice to know that Illidan is going to receive a brand new archetype (which is probably what Cora was talking about during her Twitter Q&A of a couple weeks ago) ... we have no idea about what these "Relics" are. Although we know that we'll receive more information on Wednesday 13th with Feno's reveal, the community started brainstorming about these cards and what such mechanic could bring to the table.
In this article, we are going to sum up the information we have, trying to predict what these Relics are and, especially, why they are so important for the expansion.
General Information - Who's the Culprit?
Before thinking about the Relics, we have to focus on why they are relevant. As you might now, Sire Denathrius has a very precious private collection in his castle, located into the Relic Vault, featuring all sorts of ancient and powerful artifacts. During the Castle Nathria raid in Shadowlands, you'll actually come in contact with Denathrius' relics, but not in the way you might think.
In fact, there's a certain boss in the Castle Nathria zone called Artificer Xy'mox. Xy'mox (just like Battlegrounds' Bartender Ve'nari) is a broker, a race of humanoid energy beings native of the Shadowlands. As the name suggests, they are pretty much traders of souls, looking for profits and pursuing their own ends.
Artificer Xy'mox in World of Warcraft.
Quote From Wowpedia Brokers value the accumulation of information and knowledge, and the application of such knowledge has the side effect of allowing them to accumulate much influence and wealth. The lure of information is appealing enough to brokers for them to even go to places as dangerous as the Maw.
In particular, in World of Warcraft Xy'mox will break into Sire Denathrius' vault, wishing to steal all those precious goods. You'll have to fight him, as he'll test the power of these relics on you. Now, if only we had a connection between Xy'mox and the Castle Nathria set ... oh wait, we do! The one you see below is a key art released after the expansion's announcement and guess what: Xy'mox is there, chilling in the back rows with another renowned thief, Rafaam!
Another confirmation of this comes straight from Murloc Holmes' journal, where Xy'mox is mentioned multiple times. Therefore, it is pretty clear that Arfiticer Xy'mox is going to be Demon Hunter's Legendary suspect for this expansion.
Now what we uncovered this, it is time to think about the actual Relics.
Relics - Gameplay Implications
If you take a look at Relic Vault's card text, you'll notice that this Location allows the next Relic you play to cast twice. The main clue we're after is the "cast" verb: Team 5 has a historical record for using this word only when talking about a specific type of card.
- Minions are played or summoned.
- Weapons are played or equipped.
- Spells are played or cast.
What we understand from this is that Relics are going to be Demon Hunter spells - sure, there might be weapons and/or minions that synergize with those cards, but there's no doubt that the Relics themselves are going to be spells.
Moreover, Hearthstone Designer Cora "Songbird" Georgiou confirmed that Queen Azshara's Ancient Relics will not count towards Relic Vault's effect - Relics are exclusive to the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion.
Quote From Songbird Does this work with Queen Azshara's Ancient Relics?
It does not. The Relics are exclusive to this set.
Relics - Predictions
Now, to the most interesting part of the article: what kind of relics does Sire Denathrius own? What do they do?
During the bossfight, Xy'mox will use three of Denathrius' Relics: Crystal of Phantasms, Root of Extinction and Edge of Annihilation. We'll go over each of them, explaining what they do and how such effects could be translated into Hearthstone's Constructed format.
Relic of Extinction
In the aforementioned Murloc Holmes journal, it is mentioned that Xy'mox was trying to steal the so-called "Relic of Extinction", which is likely to be the Root of Extinction artifact.
During the bossfight, Xy'mox will use this relic to summon a number of "Seeds of Extinction", which are basically bombs on a timer, set to explore shortly after they are spawned and dealing damage to everything in their proximity.
As we see it, Root of Extinction can be implemented as multiple one-sided Depth Charge units that are summoned on one side of the board (possibly your opponent's side) and will explode soon after, dealing damage to your enemies.
Relic of Phantasms
This is the first artifact that Xy'mox uses during the boss fight. The Relic of Phantasms is a large green crystal that floats in the air above each character's head.
This relic will spawn several Fleeting Spirits, which will chase you for a certain amount of time; in case the Spirits manage to reach you, they'll mind control you, inflicting collateral damage.
As you can see, the Crystal of Phantasms consists of a rather complex skill, which means that it will be hard to see it faithfully translated into Hearthstone (or maybe we're just underestimating Team 5!).
Given how this artifact works, we expect Relic of Phantasms to summon units with Rush, which you will run into enemy units to either control them or deal some sort of damage (Deathrattle like Dr. Boom's Boom bots or attack-related like Sunken Defector?).
Relic of Annihilation
Lastly, we have Edge of Annihilation, a large sword that will appear as soon as Root of Extinction's effect wears off.
This artifact will draw each player closer and closer; after, it will deal a large amount of damage to each characters within a certain radius.
We think Relic of Annihilation can be easily translated into some form of an AoE, something which DH has never been particularly successful in; moreover, the rotation of the Lifesteal kit and Immolation Aura has made Illidan's comeback tools even scarcer.
Machadogps' Take on the Relics
It's not over! Machadogps, who has already made an appearance on our site for his Custom Puppetmaster Lazul Hero for Duels, decided to create some custom relics, as well as a version of Artificer Xy'mox! As you can see, his takes pretty much align with our predictions.
Disclaimer: Relic of Destruction is Relic of Extinction.
Quote From Machadogps Relics will be powerful resource-focused spells. They might create a new direction for DH as a class.IMO Mind Control with the Crystal, quite a bit of setup damage (EXPLOSIVE DAMAGE) with Root and some AoE with Edge will appear as cards.
Are you excited to see this new Demon Hunter archetype? What are your predictions? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Machadogps's interpretation is interesting but I doubt the power level will ever go that far. Whatever it is, we can surmise from the Relic Vault being 3 mana means that the relics are likely generated, and the generator is either 2 mana or 4 mana.
The card power level would not be on par with the DK cards but not as weak as lackeys. I'd say that the mana cost would be in the realms of 2-4. The legendary will simply be to repeat all relics played this game, and would likely be 8 mana, or plain 6 mana discover 2-3 relics.
As to what the relics themselves would do? Since its dhunter, we know its not going to be buffs. If I were to guess, its likely draw, AoE, and token generation.
Interesting interpretations. I think Regiskilbin made a video looking at the raid fight as well.
First off I love the brokers as the demon hunter suspect. As, I think it was Cora, said they are the outcasts. From my knowledge of WoW they seem like an interesting race.
Second the Relics may be able to give Demon Hunters off class spell schools. Much like Whirlpool does for Priest.
Xymog interacting with Relics or generating them in some way feels right.
I just hope they are interesting. The Skeletons seem fun in mage. It's also just weird to show off the vault and not a single relic. I get spreading it out but at least give us one to theory craft with.
I completely agree with you. The only I reason I can think of is Feno revealing most/all the Relics + Xy'mox on Wednesday, which doesn't seem that farfetched.
In fact, this is the image preview for Feno's reveal.
I may be wrong of course, but to me it seems the Crystal of Phantasms mentioned in the article!
It seems exciting ...