A heavy rain pattered down across the tiled roofs of Hanamura. In the darkened streets, nothing stirred, as the residents of the Japanese city sought shelter from the roaring storm. In the center of the metropolis, the bright walls of Shimada Castle loomed, striking a sharp contrast against the stormy grey of the sky.
Within the Castle walls, all was quiet, as the majority of the Shimada family were out of the country on a vacation to the Alps. The few servants that remained stayed quiet and out of sight, giving the imposing structure an air of antique elegance. Inside the shrine at the Castle’s very center, however, the situation was very different.
The ancient hangings adorning the shrine’s walls were ripped by vicious sword blows, and pools of blood dotted the walls. All this was nothing, however, compared to what lay in the center of the room’s floor—a young man, shredded by countless sword wounds. Despite these grievous injuries, the man was still alive, but unless he got medical attention soon, he would soon die.
Genji Shimada was the man’s name, and he was the son of the Castle’s master. For years, his name had granted him anything and everything he could have wanted—but now, his name had cost him his life.
Darkness began to encroach at the edges of Genji’s vision, and despite his best efforts, it refused to leave. Panic—which had always been lurking in the shadows—began to consume the young man’s thoughts, and in a fit of desperation, he began crawling towards the room’s exit. He didn’t get far before his screaming limbs gave out and he collapsed on the floor in a heap.
Giving up, Genji succumbed to the darkness, and as the final vestiges of life left his body, a single thought consumed his mind: “Why, Hanzo—why did you kill your brother?”
The blackness swirled, all-consuming and all-encompassing. Genji reached out, trying to grasp anything that could give him an anchor in this void, but there was no use—he was utterly alone in the darkness. So this is what it feels like to die…
Suddenly, a faint light broke through the darkness. Immediately, hope flared up in the young man’s soul—there was still a chance! Struggling with all his might, Genji attempted to push himself through the dark morass in the direction of the light.
For what seemed like hours, Genji made no progress through the darkness, but then, slowly, the light drew closer. Invigorated by this progress, Genji struggled harder, pushing through the viscous void.
Over time, the light came closer and closer, and eventually, a faint noise began to accompany it. At first, it was indistinct, but then… “Give me a scalpel!” a distant feminine voice commanded, “And go see…so long…implants aren’t ready…lose the patient…”
I’m being operated on, Genji realized, They’re trying to save my life. Immediately, a true hope began to dawn in the young man’s heart, and he pushed onward with a renewed vigor. He would survive—no matter the difficulty.
“Oh, there you are,” the feminine voice broke through the silence again. It was closer this time, which meant that Genji was heading in the right direction. “Do you have everything?”
“It’s all here,” a heavily accented male voice replied, “But are you sure you want to do this? We’ve never made such heavy modifications to a human body.”
“You see the state he’s in,” the first voice replied, “It’s his only chance at survival.” There was silence for several seconds, then the woman continued, “Perfect. Just leave the implants on that table—I’ll take it from here.”
After this, all noise faded away, leaving Genji alone with his thoughts. Implants…why would I need implants? Was my body that badly damaged? Confused but still determined, the young man continued to struggle, getting ever closer to the ring of light.
“…need to cut…out, and replace…” the voices came again. They were even clearer than before, but many of the words were drowned out by a mechanical whirring. What are they doing to my body?
Worried, Genji pushed even harder, and then he was there, right at the edge of the ring of light. Grabbing out, he pulled himself through—and let out a cry of pain and surprise as a wave of agony tore through his body. “The patient is waking up!” a voice declared, but Genji ignored it, his mind consumed by the terrible pain.
“Anesthetics, now!” the original feminine voice demanded, and a second later, Genji felt a sharp object push its way into his arm. For several terrible moments, the agony refused to subside, but then, slowly, the pain went away. “Put him back to sleep,” the voice continued, “He shouldn’t be awake for this part.”
Immediately, there was a second prick at his arm, and Genji felt the darkness descend once more. This time, however, it was the warm and welcoming darkness of sleep, and he let himself succumb to its embrace. Just before he closed his eyes, however, his gaze landed on the nametag attached to the head surgeon’s uniform.
“Dr. Angela Ziegler…” Genji thought as he drifted off to sleep, “What a nice name…”
Many hours later, Genji woke up again. This time, however, he was completely pain free, and was lying on a nice, soft bed rather than a hard hospital gurney. Looking around at his surroundings, the young man found that he was in a dimly lit room that was devoid of any furnishings save the bed he was lying on, a small mirror mounted on a nearby wall, and a tiny security camera up in one corner of the room.
“Where am I…” the young man muttered to himself. “And why am I being watched…” Curious, Genji pushed back the thin sheets covering his body…and let out a cry of surprise, as he saw that his legs were made of metal!
Convinced this was just a terrible prank, Genji reached out to feel the strange limbs—and gasped again, as he realized that his arms had suffered the same fate as his legs. Leaping out of bed, the young man ran over to the mirror, desperately hoping that this was all just a trick of the light.
Peering into the glassy surface, Genji froze in disbelief at the sight of the metal monstrosity staring back. “No…it can’t be…” the young man whispered in disbelief, “I’m a cyborg!”
To be continued…
character original to Hearthstone was introduced into the World of Warcraft. This character is the famous Sir Finley Mrrgglton, explorer extraordinaire.
“Ouch! Dat looked painful,” Dar’jin winced at the mighty slap, “But dat be da end of Thrall’s turn. Now, what will Uther be doin’?” Narrowing his eyes, the Paladin reached into a scabbard at his waist and withdrew a massive two-handed sword. “Oho, dat be da Truesilver Champion!” Dar’jin declared, “Looks like Uther be dishin’ out da retribution himself!”
fact that I got two copies of Shaku, the Collector out of my first 30 packs opened. The idea behind the deck is to use Stealthed minions to build up a board presence, and then snowball opponents on the back of my Jade Golems.
Goons Paladin is another counter to the Jade Golem Druid decks permeating the meta. In this deck, you use the classic Paladin Board clears (such as Pyro/Equality) to deal with pesky golems, while using hand-wide buffs to make big minions of your own.
one goal: defeat the ever-present Pirate Warrior. This goal is accomplished by playing a lot of Taunt minions that are buffed by cards such as Stolen Goods or the Grimy Gadgeteer.
For example, the Jade Lotus have the Jade Spirit, a 4-mana 2/3 that summons a Jade Golem upon being played. Now, a 2/3 is pretty bad for 4 mana, however, the Jade Golem it summons will likely be a 2/2 or a 3/3. As a result, this card becomes a 4-mana 4/5 or 5/6, which is actually pretty good.
2-mana spell that deals 2 damage. If the Combo is enabled, however, it will also summon a Jade Golem. This card isn’t as powerful as Eviscerate in most Rogue decks, however in Jade Golem focused decks its power is much, much higher.
The Rogue Legendary—Shaku, the Collector—is a Stealth minion, but it has nothing to do with Jade Golems, so it’s hard to see where exactly the Rogue archetype is going to be focused. There are still a lot of cards that haven’t been revealed yet, however, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the future.
Golem it summons will be at least a 4/4 or 5/5, which makes this card an impressive 7-mana 9/9 or 10/10! Needless to say, this effect is super powerful, and will definitely help Shamans to control the board against more aggressive decks.
Golem or shuffle 3 copies of this card into their deck. This is a very powerful card, as it single-handedly prevents Druids from ever dying to fatigue again.
For the most part, Potions are just basic spells, similar to what has been released in previous expansions. However, there are some cards that interact specifically with Potions in a way that hasn’t really been seen before. For example, there is the Kabal Chemist, a 4-mana 3/3 that adds a random Potion to your hand when it’s played. Because Potions tend to be better than the average spell, this minion’s effect will be pretty good most of the time.
they help fulfill this goal in many ways. On the Board Clear side, they have the Dragonfire Potion, a 6-mana spell that deals 5 damage to all minions that are not Dragons. This is a very powerful Board Control Spell unless your opponent is running a Dragon deck, in which case Dragonfire Potion will do absolutely nothing.
As far as the Highlander effect goes, Priests have the Legendary Minion Raza the Chained. A 5-mana 5/5, Raza the Chained causes your Hero Power to cost 0 for the rest of the game as long as your deck has no duplicates. Needless to say, this is an incredibly powerful effect, as it allows the Priest to always be able to heal no matter how much mana he uses.
Potion Mages have is the Volcanic Potion, a 3-mana Spell that deals 2 damage to all minions. Mages have plenty of Board Clears already, but this card will still likely see some play.
Highlander Mechanic shows up in the Legendary. Named Inkmaster Solia, the Mage Legendary is a 7-mana 5/5 that makes the next Spell you cast completely free, as long as you have no duplicates in your deck. This is possibly even more powerful than Raza the Chained’s effect, since being able to play a Pyroblast for free on turn 7 along with a 5/5 minion is absolutely insane for Tempo.
Potion, a 6-mana Spell that deals 5 damage to all characters. This has no place in a Zoolock deck, but fits perfectly in a Control-style deck.
gang into one card. A 4-mana 3/3, Kazakus has a Battlecry that allows players to create their own custom Potion, as long as they have no duplicates in their deck.