Free Hearthstone Legendary The Sunwell for March of the Lich King - Lore, Card Interactions & Decks to Play

When patch 24.6 went live, every player who downloaded it and entered the game received a free copy of The Sunwell, which is part of the new March of the Lich King expansion that's going live on December 6th.

In this article we will go over The Sunwell's lore, gameplay implications and decks which may want to run this spell. It's certainly an interesting one! 

Lore

The Sunwell was a fount of mystical power located in the Sunwell Plateau, on the Isle of Quel'Danas: its waters, which were once pure arcane power, were then turned into a mix of both arcane and light (hence the Holy Spell School) energy. The Sunwell was originally created by the Highborne leader Dath'Remar Sunstrider, who stole a vial of water from the Well of Eternity and used it at a nexus of arcane ley lines, which would then become the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas.

However, magic was forbidden is the Highbornes' homeland, so Dath'Remar's followers started calling themselves "high elves" and established a new kingdom (Quel'Thalas).

The Sunwell's card art. The more you zoom in, the less majestic it gets.

The Sunwell was able to empower and sustain the high elves for several millennia: this fount's existence was so vital to the high elves that it was comparable to what air and food are for a normal creature! However, such benefit came with a great cost: by being constantly bathed in the Sunwell's light, the high elves became addicted to its energies. This wouldn't have been a big problem if things stayed peaceful, but obviously that was not the case: during the Third War, Prince Arthas Menethil (a.k.a The Lich King a.k.a. the new expansion's poster boy) invaded the kingdom of Quel'Thalas, decimating the high elven population and using The Sunwell to resurrect Kel'Thuzad as a lich.

Arthas leading his army of Undead to the invasion of Quel'Thalas.

However, the resurrection process tainted the Sunwell's energies, which threatened to kill the very few high elves that were able to survive the Scourge's massacre: in response, Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider, the last of Dath'Remar's bloodline, was able to obtain the aid of the Highborne homeland and destroyed the Sunwell.

While this action saved the remaining high elves from annihilation, it also deprived them of their source of sustainability. After this episode, the high elves, who started calling themselves "blood elves", were left with an insatiable hunger for arcane magic (hence the expansion's keyword Manathirst).

Commentary

Although it took Team 5 more than 8 years to print a Neutral spell, their first design is pretty iconic lore-wise and quite the card gameplay-wise.

The larger your hand size is, the more The Sunwell will grow in playability; however, at the same time, the more your hand is full, the less value it will generate. From a quick glance, we'd say that casting this spell with 4 to 6 other cards in hand will be the most common and powerful play, as you'll be able to get your hands on additional resources with a decent chance to play something immediately, therefore making an impact on the board. Another use we can see for The Sunwell is being reload for aggressive strategies, allowing you to find the damage you're missing to close the game.

By being Neutral, all 11 10 classes now have access to The Sunwell, even the ones which aren't particularly proficient in resource generation. The Holy Spell School shouldn't be particularly relevant with the current card pool, but it has to be pointed out that it gets tutored by Knight of Anointment and works towards multi-School effects like Multicaster, although it's not going to be the most consistent interaction of all.

Decks to Play with The Sunwell

Cool, cool, but where do you play The Sunwell? Worry not, as we have several lists you can netdeck take inspiration from!

Big Spell Mage

The Sunwell's initial cost is 9 mana: what if we change that? Barbaric Sorceress allows such trickery, giving your opponents even more headache.

WickedGood's Questline Priest

WickedGood decided to use The Sunwell in order to increase their chances to complete Seek Guidance - another very intriguing use of this new Legendary spell!

McBanterFace's Burgle Rogue

Since The Sunwell adds spells from any class to your hand, chances are you'll be able to fuel your Tess Greymane and Contraband Stash with sick stuff to recast.

MarkMcKz's Wild Yogg Miracle Druid

For our Wild readers out there, MarkMcKz came up with a brand new iteration of Yogg Druid, featuring Ashes of Outland's Ysiel Windsinger and The Sunwell.

What do you think about this free card? Have you already played it in any deck? Let us know in the comments below!