Although the reveal season for March of the Lich King is yet to start, Team 5 has already revealed a good portion of the new Death Knight cards during the announcement video. And we've already made sure to dive deep into the class as a whole.
While we don't have the full picture yet, a few cards already stand out to us because of their remarkable power level. Yes, their future playability will greatly depend on the Rune mechanic: it doesn't matter if a card is busted, if the Rune it's bound to is unplayable! Therefore, more than for any other class, Death Knight's cards need to be addressed as a whole. But that still won't stop us from pointing out at some of the DK tools which, in our opinion, have what it takes to play a major role in the upcoming March of the Lich King meta.
Disclaimer: Just so you know, the cards you'll see below aren't being listed in any specific order.
Patchwerk
If you thought Mutanus the Devourer was annoying, you'll definitely lose your mind over this one. Patchwerk gives up Mutanus' board presence for a much, much more disruptive effect: when Death Knight becomes available as a class, decks that run very few, crucial minions will meet a formidable foe.
While the Blood Rune requirement will stop this card from being included in every kind of DK decks, we think that lists with at least one Blood Rune will be mandatory just because of this unit. We wouldn't be surprised to see Patchwerk being eventually bumped to 8 mana or seeing its Rune requirement going up to 2.
Plague Strike
This card looks so packed with power. Let's compare it with some other cards that have a similar effect:
- Deliverance costs 1 more mana and you need to meet the Honorable Kill condition, which is what has always held back the card from seeing play.
- Flanking Strike costs 2 more mana, doesn't require the minion to be killed but the summoned Wolf doesn't have Rush.
- Natural Causes can go face and always summons a 2/2, but without Rush and with smaller reach (the difference between 2 and 3 damage is bigger than you might think).
Plague Strike represents such a strong early game swing, especially if you're going second against an aggressive deck: turn 1 coin into this spell is pretty much guaranteed to kill any 1-drop, instantly flipping the board's balance.
Based on what we've seen so far, most of the good stuff is either Blood or Frost, so we'll have to see how much support Unholy will receive, but this doesn't change the fact that this card (in a vacuum) is very impressive.
Vampiric Blood
The triple Blood Rune requirement means that if you're playing Vampiric Blood, you'll have to give up on every Unholy and Frost card, but (un)holy moly, what a card. Vampiric Blood seems like a potentially very annoying tool to play against, especially if Death Knight will receive ways to heal efficiently. Pair it with Prince Renathal and Reno Jackson for that extra spice!
While more Health doesn't do much by itself, we'll have to see what other Blood Rune cards the class will receive: Patchwerk, for example, is a very solid start.
The only way we can see this spell being balanced out is that it requires 3 Corpses to be upgraded and, as we explain in our Death Knight Deep Dive, Blood Rune cards aren't particularly proficient in that field; however 2 mana gain 5 Health is still pretty damn good.
Glacial Advance
If this card didn't go face, it would've still been quite good: a Shadow Bolt with Preparation attached to it is a respectable effect. However, Glacial Advance can go face, which is insane to us. Let us make it clear for you: this is a 1 mana deal 4 damage spell with just 1 Frost Rune as a deckbuilding limitation! The tempo of this card is insane, and so will be its playrate in December.
Just like for Patchwerk, we wouldn't be surprised to see a swift change to Glacial Advance: maybe one less damage point or one more Frost Rune. In the meantime, this card seems bonkers, so be prepared to abuse it as much as you can.
Icy Touch
Another card that does a lot for very little mana investment. Mage has Frostbolt, an already good card, but Icy Touch is cheaper and therefore strictly better: you always give up 1 burn damage for 1 less mana investment.
Moreover, Icy Touch has no Rune restriction: meaning that it can slot into any Death Knight deck! Based on the cards we've seen so far, we expect this spell to be used at least in a Frost-heavy build in combination with Overseer Frigidara, so that you'll be able to kill or Freeze anything that survives your Consecration-like effect.
Honorable Mentions
Horn of Winter - Difficult to judge because we don't know what combos Death Knight might be able to pull off, but there is no way in heaven or hell that a card with this effect doesn't see play. No. Way.
Frostwyrm's Fury - The viability of the triple Frost archetype really depends on what (and how many) other cards with 3 Frost Runes we'll receive, but Frostwyrm's Fury seems to be a fantastic start for the deck.
What do you think about the Death Knight cards that have been revealed so far? Which ones are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
DK cards are currently enjoying the same work as dhunters did, in that their cards are simply blatantly overpowered for their cost, relative to the options available to other classes. Wouldn't be too surprised to see a round of nerfs from the first month alone, depending on the expansion cards.
Frost cards looking very dangerous, almost the level of tempo dhunter on AoO. All it needs now is a card that generate lots of stats on board by turn 5. We might actually see another 70% playrate for DKs on the first month, even if its different archetypes.
That is just how T5 balances stuff. They would rather have their new class be OP and see play than weak and see no play. I think they have also stated it is easier to nerf things then it is to buff?
It's 100% this reason ☝ Blizzard also want pre-orders to sell so they will blatantly make the class overpowered just to sell bundles.
I am sure money has a big part to do with it, but I really don't think there is any malicious intent when making a new class OP. It would be so lame if the new class was actually unplayable and everyone stuck with what was good in the last expansion.
I really think Vampiric Blood is being overhyped. 2 mana gain 5 health is really not very strong, and it's unclear how difficult it will be to have three corpses in a triple blood deck. 2 mana gain 10 and draw a card is very strong, but it does spend corpses you might have needed for other cards like corpse explosion. Not to mention the enormous deck restriction of not being able to run the other strong rune cards, just for some extra health? No thanks from me.
Since each hero power use creates one corpse it will not be an issue having 3 corpses in game
I've already mentioned I see some people not taking kindly to Patchwerk as he is now... especially if he gets played alongside Brann oh that is going to go down well. Yeah I feel highlight reels and rage moments are going to come from him depending on how things look and see just how much effect he has.
I'm not that impressed with Patchwerk. I mean yeah, he's obviously really good and will see play in just about every DK deck, but I don't think he's broken. Mutanus can already rip cards from the hand at 7 mana, on-board removal isn't as strong as it used to be, and ripping from the deck doesn't matter unless you draw everything or hit their only win condition.
Maybe Patchwerk even encourages less one-card decks.
Patchwerk is like a mutanus that's played on an empty board. And for an added fuck you he even eats something from your deck. How this card isn't insane is completely beyond me. The only thing stopping this from appearing in every DK deck is the rune restriction.
I remember slagging off mutanus for the exact same reason. But turns out that even removing one card from your opponent's list of options is a very big deal.
I didn't say he was bad. Quite the opposite, I think he'll see play in every DK deck that uses Blood. But I don't think the effect is at all broken. I think Patchwerk is perfectly balanced.
Oh I agree totally it's just when you look at Patchwerk, Tickatus, Mutanus and other cards like them a certain of the player base has strong opinions on their effects which I expect to see on the first week or so of the expansion when Death Knights will be everywhere as people flock to to see what the new class does.
Personally I don't really care as I only really play normal constructed hearthstone with friends now bar two decks I occasionally play on ladder and they are spell focused anyway so won't be effected.
I think Corpse Explosion should make the list. Seems like a very powerful board clear.
On another note I think it's amazing the old death Knight cards from frozen throne are being added to the real class. That should be worthy of an article, with a bit of speculation what runes each of them might have. wink wink
could be hard as Oblitirate until now, NEVER was associated with blood in anyway. Since in wow always used a frost and unhoyl rune, until they ddi away different types as a whole in legion.
Patchwerk has to be nerfed to 2 Blood Runes...right? Surely just a splash for him alone is extremely powerful. And he's a Core card, to boot, so everyone gets him for free! I expect to have my things eaten on the regular.