The Journey to Un’Goro expansion is here, and already, the meta has been flooded with a host of new decks. Of course, just because there are a lot of new decks doesn’t mean they’ll all be viable.  In fact, there are a lot of decks that—once the meta settles—will be completely unplayable. As a result, there are a lot of cards that seem powerful now, but should not be crafted until the meta has a chance to stabilize.

 

The Caverns Below:

The Rogue Legendary Quest, The Caverns Below was one of the most underrated cards before the expansion launched. No one thought it was a good card (the term ‘worst Quest of Un’Goro’ was tossed around quite a bit) however, in the few weeks since the expansion launched, Quest Rogue has already become one of the most dominant decks.

Just because Quest Rogue is good, however, doesn’t mean it will stay good. Quest Rogue is very vulnerable to aggressive decks such as Pirate Warrior, which has survived the shift into the Year of the Mammoth. As time goes on, these decks will only get more refined, and Quest Rogue will have trouble keeping up.

As a result, The Caverns Below is a card that’s a bit dangerous to craft right now. It may keep its power level throughout the expansion, but for now, its 1600 dust cost makes it too much of a risk.

 

Spiritsinger Umbra:

A Legendary minion, Spritsinger Umbra is run in a lot of the Priest Deathrattle decks. Her effect (after you summon a minion, trigger its Deathrattle effect) is very powerful, and if left unchecked can singlehandedly win games. As a result, she shows up in nearly every Netdeck that contains powerful Deathrattles.

Despite being a very powerful card, however, Spiritsinger Umbra isn’t actually necessary in most of the decks that run her. While partnering her effect with cards such as Cairne Bloodhoof and Shifting Shade is powerful, it only serves as a win-more effect. There are very Deathrattle minions that affect enemy minions, and the few that do are relatively ineffective. The only card that would have really made a difference is Sylvanas Windrunner, but she left with the last Standard shift.

Because of this issue, Spiritsinger Umbra isn’t a ‘must-craft’ by any means, and should only be purchased by players with a lot of dust that they don’t know what to do with.

 

Ozruk:

A mighty Elemental, Ozruk is a great fit in many of the slower Elemental decks. Between Ozruk’s massive health and the Taunt keyword he carries, the Elemental is great at stopping late-game pushes.

Unfortunately, despite his power, Ozruk is very weak to hard removal (such as Execute or Shadow Word: Death) which completely ignore his massive health totals. As a result, Ozruk is unreliable, and completely unworthy of his 1600 dust cost.

 

Lyra the Sunshard:

The Priest Legendary, Lyra has received a lot of attention recently due to some impressive highlight clips, where the resources she generated singlehandedly won the games. Because of this, the card has been seeing a lot more play, and is becoming increasingly tempting as a crafting option.

Similarly to Spiritsinger Umbra, however, Lyra the Sunshard is a card that doesn’t need to be crafted. While her effect is powerful, and it can be game-changing, many times it won’t be. As a result, Lyra is just too unpredictable, so players who are tight on dust have no reason to craft her.

 

Lakkari Sacrifice/Clutchmother Zavas

With the exit of Renolock, the Warlock variant known as Discardlock has begun to make a resurgence. This archetype got a lot of support in Un’Goro, with both the Legendary Quest and the Class Legendary directly supporting the discard playstyle.

Despite the obvious synergies, however, Lakkari Sacrifice has been absent from nearly all Warlock decks, and Clutchmother Zavas is rarely seen as well. There are many reasons for this neglect—however, the biggest is that the cards simply don’t work well enough. Lakkari Sacrifice isn’t a powerful enough Quest Reward, and Clutchmother Zavas—while powerful—isn’t as strong as many Legendaries.

Because of these issues, the two new Warlock Legendaries just aren’t worth the dust it’d cost to craft them.

 

The Marsh Queen:

Once thought to be the best card coming out of the Journey to Un’Goro expansion, The Marsh Queen has instead turned out to be nothing but a great disappointment. The deck that needs to be made to complete The Marsh Queen is simply too inconsistent, with lots of tiny minions and very little card draw.

Consequently, The Marsh Queen is virtually unplayable at the moment, and is definitely not worth its 1600 dust cost.

 

Open the Waygate:

Yet another Quest, Open the Waygate is a difficult card to assess. When everything goes right, the card is possibly the most powerful card in the game—this scenario doesn’t happen too often, however, and most of the time, Open the Waygate ends up amounting to nothing more than a waste of one mana.

Thanks to this inconsistency, Open the Waygate isn’t currently worth crafting for new players. However, unlike many of the other cards on this list, Open the Waygate does have one thing going for it—the card is a lot of fun to play, and can instantly turn any game around.

As a result, Open the Waygate—while perhaps not the best card ever—is one of the most entertaining to play, which means that for players with lots of dust lying around, it’s the perfect card.

 

That’s all of the ‘Do Not Craft’ cards that have come out of this expansion. Once the meta has stabilized a bit, some of these cards (such as The Caverns Below) might actually be worth crafting. For now, however, things are just too uncertain, so it’s best to simply save your dust. Finally, while there are other bad cards in this expansion, they are mostly just Commons and Rares, which are fairly cheap and are unlikely to be an issue.

The Journey to Un’Goro expansion is here, and I’ve already started work on new decks. These four are the best I’ve come up with so far, and while they’re not quite perfect yet, I had a lot of fun playing them and I got several wins on the ladder.

 

Discardlock

Excerpt from the journal of Elise Starseeker:

Day 4—We arrived at the bubbling Lakkari Tar Pits this morning, where we discovered the remains of a primitive tribal ritual. After some examination from the Warlocks of our expedition, it was determined that the ritual’s purpose was to open a portal directly to the Twisting Nether!

The ritual had been unsuccessful, apparently due to a lack of life energy. The Warlocks suggested a way to ‘remedy’ this problem, but I firmly declined their offer, and we left the area shortly thereafter. 

The first deck I played, Discardlock centers around completing the Warlock class quest, Lakkari Sacrifice. Lakkari Sacrifice requires you to discard six cards, and if you do, you receive the powerful Nether Portal (which summons a pair of 3/2 Imps at the end of your turn). The Nether Portal cannot be destroyed—even with complete Board Clears like Twisting Nether—so once you get it out onto the board, you’ll gain a lot of tempo for the rest of the game.

Of course, because Discardlock focuses so heavily on discarding cards, there will be times when you lose important resources at the worst possible time. In addition, while the Nether Portal is a powerful tempo card, it isn’t an instant win condition like some of the other quests. As a result, there are a lot of decks that can out-value Discardlock in the long run.

The Pros: Very powerful early game, with lots of high-tempo minions. Once the quest is complete, constant pressure that lasts the rest of the game.

The Cons: Can struggle if important cards are discarded. The deck also runs out of cards very quickly, going into fatigue when its opponent still has fifteen or more cards remaining.

Notes: There are a lot of Discardlock decks that aren’t running the quest, in favor of a more aggressive list. These decks are good, but the quest is also quite powerful, so it’s up to the individual player to decide what they want to do.

 

Elemental Paladin

 Excerpt from the journal of Elise Starseeker:

Day 7—While most of the Paladins seem determined to track down the elusive Galvadon, there are some who have set their focus on the elementals who dwell in the Crater. These Paladins are…inexperienced, but their enthusiasm is unmatched, and they’ve successfully imbued many elementals with the power of the Light.

The Shamans and Mages in our party see the Paladins as nothing more than amateurs—I find their efforts quite interesting, however, and intend to keep a close eye on their progress. 

The second deck I played, Elemental Paladin isn’t the most obvious archetype for the class. Despite this, the deck was actually surprisingly successful, due to a few interesting interactions.

The first had to do with the Servant of Kalimos, a 5-mana 4/5 that discovers an Elemental as long as you played an Elemental on the previous turn. Because of the occurrence bonus class cards get in discover effects Ragnaros, Lightlord (Paladin’s only Elemental) showed up nearly every time. Now, Ragnaros wasn’t always the best choice, but always having him as an option made a huge difference in many games.

The second had to do with combining Ozruk (a 9-mana 5/5 with Taunt that gains +5 Health for every Elemental played on the previous turn) with the Adaptation that grants immunity to Spells and Hero Powers. In most cases, Ozruk would get up to a 5/15 or higher, which is pretty hard to deal with when he can’t be targeted by Spells.

The third centers around the new Paladin Legendary, Sunkeeper Tarim. Because of all the little 1/2 Elementals received from cards such as Fire Fly and Igneous Elemental, Sunkeeper Tarim nearly always has a large board to interact with. This allows Elemental Paladins to get a lot of value against heavy decks like Jade Druid or Taunt Warrior.

The Pros: Very powerful tempo throughout the game, with a lot of big minions near the end (including up to 3 Ragnaros, Lightlords).

The Cons: A little weak against decks that can generate massive amounts of small minions quickly, such as Murloc Shaman and Quest Hunter.

Notes: While Sunkeeper Tarim is powerful, he can be replaced by a second copy of Tol’vir Stoneshaper if budget is an issue.

 

Adaptation Priest 

Excerpt from the journal of Elise Starseeker:

Day 11—Several of the Priests in our party have begun examining the rare beasts that inhabit the Crater. They seem fascinated in general by the creatures, but they are especially intrigued by the beasts’ rapid adaptations.

Applying what they have learned from their extensive time with Dragons, the Priests have begun to use their holy magic to influence the adaptations. So far, the results have been…interesting, to say the least, and I am eager to see what they come up with.    

Adaptation Priest is a deck that uses Priest spells like Power Word: Shield and minions such as the Kabal Talonpriest to empower Adapted minions. The deck’s main win condition is the Vicious Fledgling, a 3-mana 3/3 that Adapts every time it attacks a hero. If this card can stay alive for more than a turn or two, it quickly becomes unmanageable.

In the event that the Vicious Fledglings don’t succeed, this deck runs Ysera and two copies of Free From Amber (an 8-mana spell that Discovers a minion that costs 8 or more mana, then summons it) to help close out games.

In addition, there is a little bit of Dragon synergy in the deck, as well as a few tech cards such as Mass Dispel (to help deal with all the Taunts/Deathrattles/Adapted minions that have been inching their way back into the meta). These cards can be swapped out, however, as they aren’t crucial to the deck.

The Pros: This deck is very strong against opponents without any real means of targeted removal, such as Paladins or Druids.

The Cons: Is definitely a win-more deck, so it struggles to come from behind.

Notes: This is more a fun deck than a serious competitive deck, so it is unlikely to pick up a lot of wins at high ranks. That being said, it is a really fun deck to play, and it often catches players off-guard.

 

Elemental Control Shaman 

Excerpt from the journal of Elise Starseeker:

Day 13—The Shaman in our party have joined the Paladins in examining the Elementals. Unlike the Paladins, however, the Shamans have a lot of experience with mastering the Elements, and they quickly bound many of the most powerful Elementals to their will.

I have my reservations, however, about the Shamans’ methods. While the Paladins treaded carefully in their experiments with the Elementals, the Shamans have thrown caution to the wind. When I asked, they cited their years of experience in taming Elementals—however, the Elementals of Un’Goro are like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I fear they might be in over their heads. 

Control Elemental Shaman forgoes playing many of the smaller Elementals in favor of massive minions such as the Earth Elemental (a 5-mana 7/8 with Taunt that Overloads for 3). Once these minions are established, it then uses cards such as Ancestral Spirit and Faceless Shambler to maintain the wall.

In addition to the massive Taunts, this deck also runs a pair of Volcanos and Lightning Storms, which help keep the board clear of enemy minions. The deck also runs a lot of healing in order to survive early aggression.

Control Elemental Shaman is very powerful against basic Aggro decks like Pirate Warrior, as once the Earth Elementals are played, the Aggro deck is instantly stopped in its tracks. Control Elemental Shaman is also relatively good against Midrange decks, as it can often outvalue them in the midgame.

The Pros: This deck is very strong against Aggro and Midrange decks, as its Taunts and healing allow it to survive long enough for its big minions to wreak havoc.

The Cons: Is very weak against decks with hard removal, such as Priest or Mage.

Notes: I don’t own Kalimos, so I didn’t include him in the deck. He fits the deck concept very well, however, so he would be a good inclusion.

 

These are the decks I’ve mainly played so far, but I’m sure I’ll create many more over the next few weeks. Hopefully, this article has given you some ideas for your own deckbuilding, and I’ll see you on the Journey to Un’Goro.

Hearthstone’s newest expansion, Journey to Un’Goro, is just around the corner. When it arrives, the Blackrock Mountain, Grand Tournament and League of Explorers expansions will be shifted out of Standard and be restricted to the Wild format. This will completely change the meta as we know it, as powerful cards like Emperor Thaurissan and Reno Jackson will no longer be playable.

In addition to the loss of Reno and the Emperor, a pair of Classic Legendary minions (Sylvanas Windrunner and Ragnaros the Firelord) will also be leaving Standard. As a result, there is now a power gap among the Legendaries, which means that some of the old Class Legendaries that have never seen much play (looking at you, King Krush) may now actually be viable.

There are some Legendaries, however, that greatly benefited from the existence of cards such as Emperor Thaurissan. For example, the Warlock Legendary Lord Jaraxxus is exponentially more powerful at a discounted 8 mana (where you can play him and get in a hero power on the same turn) than at his default 9 mana. Not all the Class Legendaries will be impacted this heavily by the Standard shift, but they will all be affected in one way or another.

 

Druid: Cenarius

Cenarius (a 9-mana 5/8 that summons a pair of 2/2’s with Taunt or gives all your other minions +2/+2) has experienced a very up-and-down ride over the history of Hearthstone. Back in the early days (when Ramp Druid was a popular and powerful deck) Cenarius was often played as a soft win condition. Since then, however, more powerful Druid cards have been released, and—aside from a short stint in the Token Druid deck popular around the time Whispers of the Old Gods was released—Cenarius has seen little to no play.

Now, however, Cenarius is primed to make his return, thanks to the introduction of the Druid Quest reward, Barnabus. Barnabus is a 5-mana 8/8 who makes all the minions in your deck cost 0. As the main barrier to playing Cenarius was his oppressive 9-mana cost, this is a huge change, and the Classic Druid Legendary will likely see play in any deck that runs the Quest.

 

Hunter: King Krush

King Krush (a 9-mana 8/8 with Charge) has always been a fairly weak Legendary, as he is basically nothing more than a more expensive Ragnaros. As a result, the Hunter Legendary has never really seen much play—except on the rare occasions that he’s acquired via a Webspinner or Ram Wrangler.

Now that Ragnaros is leaving the Standard format, however, King Krush might actually have his time in the sun. Eight instant damage is nothing to sneeze at, and with powerful removal tools such as Entomb leaving for Wild, the powerful Devilsaur could very well be the tool Hunters are looking for.

 

Mage: Archmage Antonidas

Ever since the beginning of Hearthstone, Archmage Antonidas (a 7-mana 5/7 who puts a Fireball into your hand every time you cast a spell) has been a staple in many Mage Decks. His ability to generate resources was unparalleled, and there are many games where Antonidas singlehandedly generated the resources needed to defeat the Mage’s opponent.

With the upcoming Standard Rotation, however, Mages are losing one of their most powerful spells, in the form of Ice Lance. Between this, and the loss of Thaurissan, Antonidas will struggle to produce more than one or two Fireballs before he’s killed off.

Overall, things look bad for the Archmage, and while he has some synergy with the Mage Quest (which requires players to cast 6 spells that didn’t start in their deck), it’s unlikely that he’ll see a lot of play.

 

Paladin: Tirion Fordring

The backbone of nearly every Paladin deck since the beginning, Tirion Fordring (an 8-mana 6/6 with Divine Shield, Taunt and a Deathrattle that gives the minion’s owner a 5/3 weapon) has always been a powerful card. He’s a powerful force on board, and when he dies, the weapon he grants can be used to control the board or finish off the Paladin’s opponent.

With the upcoming Standard rotation, Tirion’s main counters (Entomb and Sylvanas) are going to Wild, which means that the Paladin Legendary will be even more powerful than ever. In addition, Tirion synergizes very well with the Paladin Quest, as his main weakness is to Silence effects—which will likely have already been used to deal with the Buffs played earlier in the game.

Overall, Tirion is a great Legendary, and he will only get better in the upcoming Standard rotation.

 

Priest: Prophet Velen

Similarly to King Krush, Prophet Velen (a 7-mana 7/7 who doubles the damage and healing of the Priest’s spells and hero power) has never been an overly powerful Legendary. While his effect is good, Velen is overpriced, and he’s difficult to combine with other cards.

Unlike King Krush, however, Velen doesn’t really benefit from Ragnaros or Sylvanas leaving Standard, and there’s nothing in Journey to Un’Goro that boosts his power. As a result, Velen will likely remain a rarely-played Legendary for a while to come.

 

Rogue: Edwin VanCleef

Like Tirion Fordring, Edwin VanCleef (a 3-mana 2/2 who gains +2/+2 for every card played earlier on that turn) has always been a highly-played Legendary. His effect is one of the most powerful in the game, and he synergizes very well with the general Rogue playstyle.

With the upcoming Standard rotation, however, Rogues are losing Conceal (which grants Stealth to all friendly minions for one turn). This is a huge blow to VanCleef, as it means that he can no longer be shielded from targeted removal. As a result, VanCleef will likely see a large drop in popularity for the first time in his entire Hearthstone career.

 

Shaman: Al’Akir the Windlord

The Shaman Legendary, Al’Akir the Windlord (an 8-mana 3/5 with Windfury, Charge, Divine Shield and Taunt) has always lurked on the edge of playability. Whenever a new Shaman deck is created, Al’Akir will appear in early builds of that deck—however, in many cases, the Lord of Air will later be removed as the deck is optimized with cheaper, more powerful cards.

With the arrival of Un’Goro, however, Al’Akir is catapulted back into relevance, thanks to his acquisition of the Elemental tag. As Shaman is one of the classes to feature Elementals, there is a good chance that Al’Akir will make it into the new Elemental decks. It’s hard to say for sure—as he could end up getting dropped as the Elemental lists are optimized, but in general, things are looking up for everyone’s second favorite Elemental Lord.

 

Warlock: Lord Jaraxxus

A staple of his class, Lord Jaraxxus (a 9-mana, 3/15 who replaces your hero) has been a part of Control Warlock decks ever since the beginning. From Handlock to Renolock, Jaraxxus has been the win condition that every Warlock strives for.

With the upcoming Standard rotation, however, things are primed to change drastically for the popular Eredar Lord. Emperor Thaurissan is rotating out, which means that Jaraxxus can no longer be played on the same turn as a hero power. In addition, Journey to Un’Goro is pushing a heavy Discardlock theme (with both the Quest and the new Legendary), which happens to be a deck that doesn’t play Jaraxxus.

Because of these factors, there is a good chance that Lord Jaraxxus will no longer be playable in Standard. Jaraxxus is still a very powerful card, however, so it’s possible he survives the transition—only time can tell for sure.

 

Warrior: Grommash Hellscream

Grommash Hellscream (an 8-mana 4/9 with Charge that gains +6 attack while damaged) has always been the finisher in Control Warrior decks. With the rise of Pirate Warrior and Jade Druid, however, he’s lost a lot of popularity, as he’s too slow to compete with these decks. This situation is looking to turn around, however, with the arrival of Journey to Un’Goro and the powerful Taunt minions it brings.

Thanks to all the new Taunt minions, Control Warrior should actually be able to hold its own against Pirate Warrior and other, similar Aggro decks. As a result, Grommash should once again see some play to help finish off all the new Midrange and Control decks that appear to be coming with the new expansion.

 

Overall, the future looks bright for many of the old Legendaries. While there are a few (Lord Jaraxxus and Edwin VanCleef) that got indirectly nerfed, there are more that only gained in power (King Krush, Cenarius and Al’Akir). As a result, the Classic Class Legendaries should see a rise in popularity amongst the dinosaurs and Elementals of Un’Goro.

Hearthstone’s newest expansion, Journey to Un’Goro, is just around the corner. There are many new features coming with the expansion (such as the new Elemental tribe and the Adapt mechanic), but the most exciting of all are the new Legendary Quests.

Quests are 1-mana Legendary Spells that are always in your hand at the beginning of the game (though you can choose to mulligan the Quest away if you want). Once you play the Quest, you then have to complete a certain task, such as summoning 7 Deathrattle Minions or discarding 6 cards. These tasks will often take several turns to complete, but if you succeed, you will receive a game-changing reward.

Every class is receiving one of these new Quests, each with a unique task and reward. They are all very powerful, but their impact on the game varies from Quest to Quest. In this article, we’re going to go over all nine of the new Quests, so you can know exactly what to expect.

 

Druid: Jungle Giants 

The Druid Quest, Jungle Giants, requires players to summon 5 minions with 5 or more Attack. Aside from Token Druid—which hasn’t been a viable deck in a long time—every Druid deck’s main focus has been summoning the largest minions possible, so this Quest will often be completed just through normal gameplay. In addition, many Druids don’t play anything on turn one, which makes this card an auto-include in nearly every Druid deck.

Once the Quest is completed, Druids receive Barnabus the Stomper, a 5-mana 8/8 with Battlecry: Reduce the Cost of minions in your deck to (0). Needless to say, this is an incredibly powerful effect for Druids, as their minions are often on the high end of the mana curve.

Overall, Jungle Giants is a very powerful Quest, as it rewards Druid players for playing naturally. As a result, it will likely be an auto-include in nearly every deck.

 

Hunter: The Marsh Queen

The Marsh Queen is one of the easier Quests to complete, as it only requires you to play seven 1-mana minions. Hunter already plays a lot of powerful 1-mana minions, including the Fiery Bat and Alleycat, and they’re getting even more in Journey to Un’Goro, which makes completing this quest a cinch.

The reward is Queen Carnassa, a 5-mana 8/8 who shuffles 15 Raptors into your deck. Raptors are a 1-mana 3/2 that draw a card when they’re played, which means that once you get this quest out, you’ll be able to fill the board with minions every turn.

The Marsh Queen is a solid Quest that fits into both Aggro and Midrange Hunter. These decks both struggle with running out of resources, so the Raptors you get from the reward are perfect for winning a tight game.

The main downside to The Marsh Queen is that its victory condition (swarming the board with Raptors) is weak against control decks with lots of board clears. During the Gadgetzan meta, the only prominent deck that ran board clears was Renolock. With the arrival of Journey to Un’Goro, however, the meta will likely shake up a good deal, and board clears could be a lot more common.

Overall, The Marsh Queen looks like a powerful card, and it will likely be the staple of Hunter decks for a while to come.

 

 

Mage: Open the Waygate

Unlike Jungle Giants and The Marsh Queen, which are both pretty straightforward, Open the Waygate requires players to think a little outside the box. In order to complete Open the Waygate, Mages have to cast 6 spells that didn’t start in their deck.

Now, at first glance, this seems incredibly difficult—however, it really isn’t that bad. With cards like Babbling Book and Cabalist’s Tome and the new secret, Mana Bind, Mages have many ways to get spells from outside their deck. Once the Mage completes the Quest, things get even crazier, as the reward is the powerful Time Warp.
A 5-mana spell, Time Warp allows you to take an extra turn. This is an incredibly powerful effect, as it allows you to unleash 15-mana worth of spells before your opponent has a chance to react. As a result, Open the Waygate is one of the most powerful Quests in the game, and will likely show up in many Mage decks.

 

Paladin: The Last Kaleidosaur

The Paladin Quest, The Last Kaleidosaur asks players to cast 6 spells on their own minions. Now, minion buffing has been a core theme of Paladin ever since the beginning—but the archetype never really worked in constructed due to the prevalence of silences and polymorph effects. As a result, the Quest seemed like an impossible task—until the rest of the Paladin cards were revealed.

New, powerful buffs like Spikeridged Steed (a 6-mana spell that gives a minion +2/+6 and Taunt and Deathrattle: summon a 2/6 with Taunt) and Adaptation (a 1-mana spell that lets you Adapt a friendly minion) were added to the Paladin arsenal. Even more importantly, Paladins got the Primalfin Champion, a 2-mana 1/2 with Deathrattle: Return any spells you cast on this minion to your hand. This card allows Paladins to get double value from their buff spells, which in turn will make The Last Kaleidosaur much easier to complete.

As for the reward, Paladins get Galvadon, a 5-mana 5/5 with Battlecry: Adapt 5 times. This is an incredibly powerful effect, as possible Adaptations include Stealth, Windfury and +3 Attack. Put all these together, and you get a 14/5 minion with Stealth and Windfury, which is capable of putting out 28 damage in one turn.

Needless to say, Galvadon is incredibly powerful—however, he is susceptible to untargeted board clears such as Twisting Nether and Dragonfire Potion. In many cases, however, these board clears won’t be available when Galvadon is played, which means that The Last Kaleidosaur is a pretty good Quest.

 

Priest: Awaken the Makers

The Priest Quest—Awaken the Makers—is pretty basic. Summon 7 Deathrattle minions, and you’ll get your reward. Ever since the Dark Cultist back in Naxxramas, Priest has always had a lot of powerful Deathrattle minions, and they’re getting even more in Journey to Un’Goro. As a result, this is a pretty easy Quest to complete, and should be finished in nearly every game.

The problem with Awaken the Makers, however, is the reward: Amara, Warden of Hope. A 5-mana 8/8 with Taunt, Amara’s Battlecry sets your hero’s Health to 40. Now, at face value, this is very good—however, in many games, ten extra Health won’t actually make a big difference. Priest is losing several of their most powerful control cards, and they aren’t getting anything to fill the void. As a result, if a Priest falls behind on board, they will struggled to regain control, and they’ll die from 40 as easily as they’d die from 30.

Overall, the Priest Quest is underwhelming in comparison to the others, but it is still a full heal, so it isn’t bad—it’s just not game-winning in most cases.

 

Rogue: The Caverns Below

Similar to the Mage Quest, The Caverns Below is a Quest that requires a bit of planning. In order to complete this Quest, you have to Play four minions with the same name. Unlike many of the other Quests, The Caverns Below specifies ‘Play’, so you’ll need to use bounce-back cards such as Gadgetzan Ferryman and Shadowstep in order to pull this off.

This isn’t an easy task, but the payoff is huge, as you get the powerful Crystal Core. A 5-mana spell, Crystal Core makes all your minions 5/5 for the rest of the game. This includes minions on your board, in your hand, in your deck and even tokens that are summoned by other minions!

Overall, The Caverns Below is a powerful card. It isn’t easy to complete, but once you do, you’ll be in a commanding position for the rest of the game.

 

Shaman: Unite the Murlocs

As Shamans are known for their connection to the elements, many players were expecting their quest to revolve around summoning the new Elementals. This couldn’t be further from the truth, however, as Shamans instead got Unite the Murlocs, which requires them to summon 10 Murlocs.

This is a fairly easy task to complete, as cards like Call in the Finishers (summon four 1/1 Murlocs) and Finja, the Flying Star (who summons two Murlocs from your deck whenever it attacks and kills a minion) will consistently get you the Murlocs you need.

Now, while Murloc Shaman has always been a potentially powerful deck, there’s been one main factor that holds it back: the lack of resources. Fortunately, this problem is completely solved by the Quest reward, a Murloc named Megafin. A 5-mana 8/8, Megafin’s Battlecry fills your hand with random Murlocs. This is an incredibly powerful effect, as it gives Murloc Shaman the extra fuel they need to finish their opponents off.

Overall, this is a very powerful Quest—however, there’s a good likelihood that the vast majority of Shaman decks in the upcoming months will be Elemental Shamans, rather than Murloc Shamans, which would make this Quest useless. For now, though, Unite the Murlocs seems like a solid card, and it will likely see some play.

 

Warlock: Lakkari Sacrifice

For the past several expansions, Warlocks have been pushed toward the Discardlock archetype. However, despite powerful cards such as the Silverware Golem (a 3/3 that summons itself when discarded) and Malchezaar’s Imp (which draws cards whenever cards are discarded) the archetype was sidelined in favor of the more powerful Renolock.

With the upcoming arrival of the Year of the Mammoth, Reno Jackson will rotate out of the Standard format, opening the door for a new type of Warlock deck. Thanks to Lakkari Sacrifice, Discardlock may just be the deck to fill this void.

Lakkari Sacrifice requires players to discard 6 cards. This might have been difficult in the past (as players would often end up discarding their discarders), but with the addition of new cards like Clutchmother Zavas (a 2-mana 2/2 that returns to your hand and gains +2/+2 whenever it’s discarded), Warlocks can discard their hand much more consistently.

As for the reward, Warlock players get the Nether Portal, a 5-mana spell that opens a permanent portal on the board. This portal cannot be destroyed, and it summons a constant stream of 3/2 imps for the rest of the game. This is an incredibly powerful board control card, and easily makes up for the 6 cards that were discarded.

 

Warrior: Fire Plume’s Heart

The final Quest, Fire Plume’s Heart requires Warriors to play seven Taunt minions. In the past, this might have been a difficult task, but thanks to the new cards introduced in Journey to Un’Goro, Warriors now have a massive pool of powerful Taunt minions to choose from.

As for the reward, Warriors get Sulfuras. Once wielded by Ragnaros the Firelord, Sulfuras is a 3-mana 4/2 weapon that changes your hero power to ‘Deal 8 damage to a random enemy’. This is a massively powerful effect, as 8 damage a turn will quickly whittle down even the toughest enemy—however, it comes at the cost of losing the ability to gain armor. Against Aggro decks, this is a big deal—however, it is mitigated by the sheer number of Taunts that have been flooding the board in order to fulfill the Quest in the first place.

Overall, Fire Plume’s Heart is a very powerful quest, and it will likely see a lot of play—assuming that Warriors are capable of playing anything other than Pirate.

 

For the most part, the upcoming Quests seem very powerful. There are a few (Open the Waygate and The Last Kaleidosaur) that create potential one-turn-kill scenarios, as well as a few others (Unite the Murlocs, The Caverns Below and Lakkari Sacrifice) that will provide powerful tempo swings.

The remaining Quests don’t quite provide the immediate benefits of the aforementioned, but they are all very powerful in their own ways. Overall, the Quest system seems like a formidable addition to Hearthstone, and I can’t wait to see how players utilize it in the weeks to come.

Great news, everybody: My first  book is now available for purchase! Entitled “The Unofficial Hearthstone Guidebook”, the book is a full guide to playing Hearthstone, and includes tips and strategies for Constructed, Arena and Tavern Brawl. There are also full walkthroughs for every one of the single-player adventure encounters, so new players can collect all the cards these have to offer.

The e-book version is free for Kindle Unlimited users, and $2.99 for everyone else. The paperback version is $4.99, but the quality is better.

I hope you enjoy the book, and your skills at Hearthstone improve because of it!

E-book version is found here.

Paperback version is found here.