As more spoilers come through the pipeline, there are more possibilities coming through as well when it comes to what new decks will pop up, what existing decks will gain, and how the metagame will shape up.
Continuing from last week, there are even more cards that I think will have a great impact on Standard:
Rat Pack will more than likely be a mainstay in Hunter decks. It’s cheap, it ensures that your [Houndmaster] will get value at every point in the game, and you’ll always have a beast to enable your other cards. The stats could also make [Tundra Rhino] even more powerful than it already is. You now have minions that give you more minions at every relevant point in the curve: three, four, and six. In fact, this card is so important that it will be the death-knell of [Call of the Wild], as N’zoth will possibly take its place. That’s assuming you even want that over [Ragnaros the Firelord] (along with [Barnes]), or just a low curve for a face build.
If Paladin already got a big boon with its more aggressive decks, then Smuggler’s Run is the cog in that engine. This seemingly innocuous card is going to make all the difference when it comes to damage based sweepers. Getting one-health minions out of Ravenous Ghoul and [Revenge] range, two-health minions out of [Consecration] range, and so forth, is pretty important, and you probably don’t ever need more than one in your deck. An extra push in damage is very helpful of course, but when the minions you’re pumping are also super stick with a bunch of Divine Shield being thrown around all over the place, the effect is going to have much bigger effect over the course of a game.
This does create quite a bit of tension between the number of actual minions you do play, and the number of spells and weapons you can get away with. Chances are, weapons like [Truesilver Champion] may actually get the cut if things line up in a way that dealing with four health minions isn’t as big a deal anymore. There’s also a chance that you can just cut some of the general pump spells that also don’t add Divine Shield, since Divine Shield itself will be more important than ever. Either way, I fully expect this card to see a bunch of play if an Aggro Paladin deck winds up being played more.
One of the most interesting cards that have been spoiled is Madam Goya. Before anything, it’s important to understand that this card is not [Barnes]. It isn’t even close. Six mana is a whole lot to pay for this effect, and the stats are really not something to write home about. In fact, the stats are pretty bad. So what are you trying to get out of it? At first glance, you’d want to treat it similarly to [Barnes], but this creates tension. What minions can you play with [Barnes] that you can’t play with Goya, and vice-versa? More importantly, which minions are you willing to put back into your deck after they’ve been played that you’ll get value out of later?
After answering these two questions, I think that the list of cards is relatively slim. The only deck I can think of right now that would want both of these is a Ramp Druid deck that can utilize Y’shaarj, and even this, this creates the problem of if you even want to draw the minion you’re putting back in your deck later on. Swapping an awesome minion for another awesome minion doesn’t mean anything if you’re breaking even, which means you don’t need Madam Goya in your deck in the first place. If you’re trying to do some [Youthful Brewmaster] shenanigans, that presents a problem if you aren’t drawing the Brewmaster over the course of the game. It’s an awkward catch-22 that may wind up being a bit too big of an obstacle for this card to overcome.
Lastly, there’s Dispatch Kodo, which is, in my opinion, the techiest card that’s been spoiled so far. The stats on it are decent, as it can get in there against smaller, wider aggressive decks. For a Hunter card, though, you tend to lack two-for-ones that get you value right upfront. Dealing two damage to a Zoo minion is a pretty nice swing for you, as you get out of the gates a bit slower than Zoo, and the extra damage in general won’t hurt against control. Additionally, it avoids [Fiery War Axe], which has been a huge problem against Warrior for a long time. Being a Beast is, of course, a plus for the typical synergies, such as [Houndmaster]. Lastly, its mana cost allows it to be out of the way of your more important parts of your curve, which 1 through three, and four through six. I expect this to see a bit more than fringe play, but pick up quite considerably if Zoo style decks make a surge in popularity.
The spoilers keep on coming, and the cards keep getting more and more interesting. There will be a huge impact, as you’d expect, when this set comes out, and with these cards, in addition to tri-class cards, are sure to make multiple well known decks make a comeback, as well as new decks show up in Standard.
Anthony has been competing in games for the better part of his adult life and is dedicated to improving his game, improving his community, improving himself as a person, and most importantly having fun and enjoying himself while doing so. You can check out his stream to find out which video game is the latest to catch his attention.