Yesterday, we got some Warlock cards revealed that are specifically synergistic with Imps. Namely, Flustered Librarian, Vile Library, Impending Catastrophe, and the big power-player of the archetype, Imp King Rafaam. Who's to say we won't see more of them later either?
The existence of these Imp-synergy cards does however pose a question: What exactly counts as an Imp? The answer to that question is not as obvious as you might expect. Given the way that synergy for Treants works, or how Raid Boss Onyxia works for Whelps, your first inclination may be to believe that anything with "Imp" in its name (and depicts an Imp) counts as an Imp for these cards.
And that's true. All of those cards do count as Imps, but that's not all of them though. There are quite a few minions in the game which are Imps, but don't explicitly say so in the card name. According to Leo Robles, all of these cards count as Imps (and thus, will work with the Imp synergy cards) despite not having the word Imp in the card name:
Fiend and Rusted Devil are created by Dark Alley Pact and Rustsworn Cultist respectively.
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 23 - Day 13 [Finished]](the-great-dark-beyond-day-13.webp)
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It's a bit weird, but most of these are in wild anyways so its fine.
There are also Dread Imps from Dreadlich Tamsin, Seeds of Destruction, and Impfestation, imps off of Fiendish Circle, Imp Gang Boss, Piggyback Imp and its token, Bloodbound Imp, [Hearthstone Card (Imp Swarm) Not Found], and Wicked Shipment in Standard to put imps on the board. These of course are not super strong cards but could be great for Imp shenanigans, and the amount of imps you can generate also help to Infuse the new Rafaam. Bloodbound Imp could help the Warlock Questline make a comeback with additional impish strategies (maybe...)
One more that comes to mind for Wild is Imp-losion. Also Jumbo Imp could finally get the respect he deserves in an Imp deck. Invoking Galakrond, the Wretched is another way to generate Imps, or using the Gala HP. And who could forget the amazing Mad Summoner?! SOOOO MANY IMPS!!! Or you could summon a never ending Imp portal with Neeru Fireblade who I forgot is still Standard, or the original warlock quest Lakkari Sacrifice. There are a few others I'm sure, but after being reminded that Impbalming is a card I am not listing anymore. Any others are just bad and not going into an Imp deck anyway.
EDIT: Actually Doubling Imp could be good. But is it going to make the cut over the new 4 mana 3/3 that can summon two copies instead of one? No, but it might make the cut over other garbage imp cards I've already listed off. :) Probably better than Imp Master too. And Rafaam's Scheme... Imprisoned Scrap Imp though! Especially with the copying imps could be nice.
Rustsworn Initiate also makes an imp token. Blood Imp. And how could Malchezaar's Imp ever be forgotten? Witchwood Imp and Desk Imp round out the list. I said I was stopping and not naming every imp card... but I did it anyway. Well, at least it's here if anyone is looking for an extensive imp listing.
I dislike using art as a mechanic. I guess it's OK because it's a digital game and HS is already pretty simple, to begin with. Still, I hate the idea of potentially losing because you didn't realize the art on Ring Matron or Tiny Knight of Evil depicted an imp (Though it's obvious the knight is an imp now in retrospect lol).
Yeah, it's not great.
If they can figure out some type of visual indicator to put onto cards to specify what counts as an Imp, then that would be great. While they're at it, they can do the same thing for things like Treants or Whelps, and that would even open the door to many other different designs that could be utilized for these "tribes" that aren't really tribes.
It was just sort of weird when Whelps did it, but now with Imps and how many cards that count as such aren't specified in name, I can see this becoming a problem in the future.
Card games from 20 years back solved this with simple bold text. Hearthstone can throw tribes to hover-text if there's not enough space. Hero cards don't have space for their hero powers so we're already there.
I wish we had sub-tribes as it would add a ton of flavor to the game, but I understand it is better to keep Hearthstone simple at the core. MTG's tribes are exciting to read even though they can be a mouthful at times.
Treants, Whelps, and Imps all definitely deserve something - it's almost as bad as the Alliance and Horde issue with Mercenaries. I wish there was a good spot on the card for an extra icon. The least they could do is put a tooltip over these sub-tribes so when you mouse over them you get to see what they belong to. Maybe something could work with the top right corner of cards. Even ignoring legendary cards, it would be a bit awkward to change the shape of our beloved frame, but the text box could never be used for such an icon as it should be made available for the description. Maybe the text box just needs to kick things off with Imp. Envoy gets a bit more crowded but it would make it clear as day that its a part of the mechanics, much like when we call upon doubling the Battlecry keyword via Brann Bronzebeard. Making subtribes a keyword could also open up a ton of design space. Kitten Beast archetype when?
Though honestly, I think just making Imp the tribe itself and then making it required knowledge that an Imp is always a demon as well would work too. The game has gotten more complicated over the years as the playerbased has matured, I don't see this being a major pain to do.
Great article!
Sub classes are one of my favorite things in MTG. I've always loved tribes but there is just something about the weird mishmash they do. Previews for MTG, even though I rarely play anymore, are one of my favorite. They often list Creature type lines out as hints about the set or give blurbs about their effects or costs as an early tease. The creature text lines always get me as they go from:
Human Wizard (Facet Reader)
to
Wolf Bear (Exuberant Wolfbear)
to
Elemental Dinosaur Cat (Vadrok, Apex of Thunder)
That is all in one set. Seeing the preview card type and then trying to imagine the art until you see the final product is quite fun. I do hope they expand on their sub-tribes in Hearthstone. Just like adding schools to spells gives design room I think sub classes would too. Though the cost on the player may be too taxing if we go to far. Still I think it can be pushed a little if we can find a way to mark it simply on the card.
Would be great to get sub-tribes for stuff like this, or even an expanded list of tribes like "Orc" or "Human" and stuff like that. I'm surprised we didn't get some Horde and Alliance symbols added to some cards to create some sort of faction specific interactions. But maybe in the future.
Fun fact! There are assets in the client for Alliance card frames. Hearthstone originally had Alliance and Horde cards, a part that carried over from WoW TCG. They ultimately abandoned it but left the assets in.
Just came in to make the same comment about sub-categories, but Flux beat me to the punch. :)
Jeez Louise, I was just starting to wrap my smooth brain around having more than 10 deck slots, and now this!