It only feels like yesterday that Journey to Ungoro was released and shook up the format for the better. Now, Knights of the Frozen Throne is right around the corner, and we have a lot to look at.
One of the major things to note is that the flagship cards of the set completely change your hero into a Death Knight, granting you some armor, and a new Hero Power, on top of a Battlecry effect.
[Deathstalker Rexxar] is the first card of the flagships that’s been spoiled, and it looks like a formidable threat. A decent sweeping effect against most aggressive decks at a reasonable cost. The wild card is the hero power: “Craft a custom Zombeast.” I’d imagine this would be like making a potion similar to [Kazakus], but with minions. I would imagine that the power wouldn’t be on the same level as Kazakus, but if it’s anywhere close, this would be a format defining card. It would ensure that you’d never run out of board presence or things to do with your mana, and it would definitely supplement other synergies (unless Zombeast is a weird new minion type).
Second, there’s [Bearshark]. We’ve seen this kind of card before, with the most common being [Faerie Dragon]. This may be the strongest Faerie Dragon ever, though. Being a Beast is much, much better than being a Dragon these days, and being a 4/3 instead of a 3/2 is a much bigger improvement at the mere cost of 1 more mana. You’re going to solidify your adaptations with this card, especially when you’re curving out, and even when you don’t, slower Mage decks in particular will have a rough time. It wouldn’t surprise me if this winds up being one of the best cards in the set, despite its innocuous look.
Lastly, there’s the new girl on the block, [Sindragosa].
One of my favorite Dragons from the WoW lore is finally here, and she’s an incredible beast. The stats are modest, as an eight mana 8/8 is barely passable these days. I don’t foresee any Dragon themed decks coming out of Mage anytime soon, as losing [Chillmaw] was a huge deal. She doesn’t provide any protect either, which is pretty rough. Her strong point, however, is to provide anti-control protection, similar to [Rafaam] in past formats. When attrition gets heavy, this can be an excellent pivot both pre and post sweeper. Eight damage is a sweet clock, and pinching their removal is also helpful. Lastly, being able to Hero Power your own 0/1s is another option, and you can do that as early as turn ten. The stock of [Sindragosa] also goes way up if the legendary minions are good overall in the set.
I was in a bit of a lull with the format as of late, but Standard, at least so far, is looking to be really promising. I can’t wait to get my hands on this new set and die to [Bearsharks] all season.
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.