Whispers of the Old Gods Review (Neutral) - Episode 71

Hello!

• Scott is on the show this week
• Topic: Whispers of the Old Gods Review (Neutral)
• Reasons to be happy this week
• News: Whispers of the Old Gods!

The Review Format

• We want to give real, valuable insight into the cards we talk about, but there are too many cards in an expansion to do that for every one.
• So we picked the ones that we think are most important to talk about.
• This week we’re covering all of the neutral cards
• Look at each rarity level separately: Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary
• For each tier, each host chooses: The best card to CRAFT, DRAFT, and DUST
• Next episode: Class cards!

Neutral Cards – Common Best to Craft

Twilight Elder

• Josh says: Spider Tank with perks. This guy isn’t great because he’ll buff C’thun massively. He’s great because he’ll either trade well and add a few points to C’thun as gravy or (even better) draw out premium removal. The key to the late-game C’thun deck, in my experience, is to make the opponent dump their removal by the time turn 9 rolls around, leaving them with no more answers for your real threats. This guy is key to getting that started early.
• Scott says: A fine card, and certainly a good choice in a C’Thun deck. But this is a great example of what bores me about C’Thun decks. I wish there was more diversity in the C’Thun enablers.

Psych-o-Tron

• Scott says: Many people have said Infested Tauren is the new Sludge Belcher, but I disagree — this card is. The whole reason Sludge Belcher was good is that he could intercept 2 attacks, regardless of how big they were. Same here. He acts like a 3/1 Taunt when his Divine shield is up, and I’m thinking having a 3/1 Taunt and a 3/4 Taunt may even be slightly better than a 3/5 Taunt and a 1/2 Taunt. Sludge Belcher isn’t gone!
• Josh says:I haven’t seen this card played much, but your math checks out. Do you think this is a sleeper that’ll get more popular over time? He’s definitely living up to his family’s legacy of annoying the heck out of me!

Best to Draft

Cult Apothecary

• Josh says: Solid heals in Arena at a very low premium. You’re paying 3 combat stats for a 4+ heal that only gets better as you fall behind.
• Scott says: Antique Healbot charged a premium of 5 stats (or 2.5 mana) for 8 heal, so you’re right — this stacks up fairly well. It will tend to be better when you’re behind and less good when you’re ahead, but that’s certainly better than the alternative.

Nerubian Prophet

• Scott says: I think this is a deceptively good card. It thrives most in decks that are using all their mana every turn. Shaman is a prime example, as it’s full of big guys and overload. Bonus points for Evolution synergy, since his cost reverts to the full 6 mana once he’s on the board. And it’s fine even if you top-deck it in the late game, because at that point you should have the mana to spare.
• Josh says: I’m so glad you picked this card. I had him down in my guilty pleasures picks because I love playing him, but haven’t seen him used much. The flexibility is amazing and when you start with him in hand, it’s glorious.

Best to Dust

Twilight Geomancer

• Josh says: I’m officially over minions with 1 attack. And who wants to give C’thun Taunt anyways? The enemy board should be empty after he lands and this barely functions as a “heal 4 health” spell. Bleh.
• Scott says: I think it’s much better than you’re giving it credit for. It’s strictly better than Silverback Patriarch and gives C’Thun a unique ability that makes a huge difference. It’s a low-impact card, but you can’t expect that much for 2 mana.

Am’gam Rager

• Scott says: Oh, I get it. It’s a Magma Rager backwards. Cute. But I’m still not playing it. Twilight Geomancer looks like a gold-plated MVP compared to this guy. Blizzard just threw away a card slot on this guy as a joke. Even the flavor text is in on the joke.
• Josh says: The only good thing I can say is that it’s probably the safest way to guarantee you have a body on your side of the board next turn, which Priest and Paladin sometimes care about. But there are soooooooo many better options for that.

Neutral Cards – Rare Best to Craft

Skeram Cultist

• Josh says: This is the perfect always-ready 6-drop in a C’thun deck. The other 6 drops like Sylvanas are a bit more situational, but this guy will always pave the way for your big boss by buffing him and demanding premium removal immediately. They can only have 2 Shadow Word: Deaths.
• Scott says: Hey look, a vanilla card with a C’Thun ability! Haven’t seen one of those in a while! Snark aside, certainly a fine card. I just find it bor…. zzzzzz….

Blackwater Pirate

• Scott says: A decent addition for pirate decks. Not great to cast on her own, but flips from being 1 mana overcosted to a 1 mana savings if you bring out a weapon right after you summon her. Pirate synergy is a bonus.
• Josh says: I haven’t played much Pirate Warrior because I’m missing a few cards for it, but it seems like the deck revolves around keeping one weapon on and then just continually buffing it. Her perk is too situational for me. I think a lot of times you won’t even want to equip a new weapon right away. And 2/5 is such a lackluster stat allocation for a deck that wants to go face.

Best to Draft

Midnight Drake

• Josh says: Much less risky than his cousin, and a nice body that can trade up for any slow Arena deck. Top decking will suck, like always.
• Scott says: You’d better have at least 4 cards in your hand after you cast this guy, and/or be in a Dragon synergy deck. Will tend to be better in a warlock deck because of the card draw.

Eater of Secrets

• Scott says: Slim pickins left, since 3 of the 9 cards are C’Thun cards and those can’t show up in Arena. So…. Eater of Secrets? Congrats buddy, you got there. Let’s hope our opponent is playing a secret class! Too bad Hearthstone doesn’t have sideboards.
• Josh says: Another of my guilty pleasure cards you’ve turned into a real pick! At least you won’t lose to Secret Paladin if someone magically makes it happen.

Best to Dust

Corrupted Healbot

• Josh says: I may be missing something here, but gaining *1* bonus combat stat isn’t worth healing 8 to the enemy. (You’d have to hit them in the face 8 times to break even on that tradeoff!)
• Scott says: I think the trick is combining it with something like Embrace the Shadow or Auchenai Soulpriest so the heal becomes damaging. When that happens, it’s a 6/6 mech that does 8 face damage for 5 mana. So in that deck, it’s a rock star, but I can’t tell you yet whether that deck is any good.

Silithid Swarmer

• Scott says: No. Just… no. Has me reconsidering my “don’t dust any cards in my playable set” rule.
• Josh says: I don’t think anyone falls for these cards that give you one bonus stat for a HUGE drawback… right? Right? Please, if you’re reading this, don’t fall for this trap. He doesn’t even look cool!

Neutral Cards – Epic Best to Craft

Crazed Worshipper

• Josh says: An absolute pinnacle in C’thun decks, which need time to grow. You simply can’t have enough early Taunt and he’s often worth it regardless of C’thun.
• Scott says: On paper he looks like he isn’t as efficient as most of the other C’Thun cards, but in practice he’s shown himself to be just fine, thankyouverymuch. This guy has more personality than most of the other neutral C’Thun minions, so he gets a thumbs up for that too.

Twilight Summoner

• Scott says: He’s actually a great value, though don’t expect your opponent to attack him on their turn. That means your 5/5 will take an extra turn to come out and become useful. Still, he’s a strong contributor, and is one of the better ‘sticky’ minions. Just don’t let him get silenced.
• Josh says: “Don’t let him get silenced” is much easier said than done, even after the nerfs. There are so many good stat-pile minions in this set that you’d have to do some serious convincing to get me to toss this guy in my deck.

Best to Draft

Cyclopian Horror

• Josh says: Only needs 2 enemies to break even. Will often get more than that. Not great while ahead, but gets stronger as you fall behind.
• Scott says: Yeah, seems pretty decent. Basically a variable Sen’jin Shieldmasta that you can get a little extra mileage out of in the right circumstances. Worth noting that at 3 enemies on board, he has the same stats as the Crazed Worshipper we just discussed, minus the C’Thun buff.

Scaled Nightmare

• Scott says: Takes a little while to get going, but after 2 turns, watch out! In arena where things are awkward and slow, he has a better chance of living longer.
• Josh says: Yeah, I’m worried about this guy’s weaknesses in constructed, but I’m totally on board for Arena. If they were able to snatch any premium removal, they better pray they draw it by Turn 8, or this guy is going to be out of control. He’ll almost certainly be a 2-for-1 at least.

Best to Dust

Darkspeaker

• Josh says: You need some serious combo synergy to make this underpowered pile of stats break even.
• Scott says: Agreed — not sure what you’d be playing this on. Mana Tide Totem? Northshire Cleric? Oooh, I’ve got it: Angry Chicken!

Blood of The Ancient One

• Scott says: It’s not going to happen. Okay, maybe it’ll happen once, if you try really hard and lose a bunch of games on the way. But that’s not a journey I plan on taking.
• Josh says: The “end of your turn” is just adding insult to injury. This dream-big combo isn’t even fun like the other ones (Thaddius or Voltron).

Neutral Cards – Legendary Best to Craft

Mukla, Tyrant of the Vale

• Josh says: It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the value here. Do you include the cost of the bananas into the value comparison? If so, he’s a loser at 8 mana for a 7/7. But he lets you give 4 of those stats anywhere you want at any time. Bananas have tons of great synergy with mage cards and minions that like being targeted. Ultimately this is a fun card with a unique effect that’ll have synergy with a lot of decks. And he’s not 10 mana.
• Scott says: Yeah, you summed it up well. Not an amazing value on his own, but does come with flexibility and can add bonus synergy in some decks.

Twin Emperor Veklor

• Scott says: C’Thun decks bore me, but if I’m going to build one, you bet your bottom dollar this guy’s in there. 11/11 across 2 bodies with taunt for 7 mana? That’s so bananas that Mukla’s jealous. This guy might be a bigger payoff for a C’Thun deck than C’Thun himself. I don’t see how you won’t have a 10 attack C’Thun by turn 7 in a deck that’s trying.
• Josh says: I love C’thun decks, so let me stop you right there and say that C’thun is the best tentacle monster I’ve ever pledged allegiance to. But I haven’t seen this guy played in-game yet, so I didn’t actually realize his twin came with Taunt! Yeah, that’s just insane value for 7 mana. Like, my brain hurts this makes no sense value. Want.

Best to Draft

Y’Shaarj, Rage Unbound

• Josh says: Love this guy. Think he’s severely underrated. Guaranteed to happen once. Even better in Arena where you’ve got decks stuffed with minions.
• Scott says: 10 mana’s a lot to ask, but agreed that this is a pretty good ability. And doesn’t ask you to dedicate half your deck to making it useful. (I’m looking at you, C’Thun.)

Hogger, Doom of Elwynn

• Scott says: Hogger’s back! He’s basically 1.5 mana overcosted, but generates 2.5 in value every time he takes damage. In arena where creature sizes are so variable, you’ll often have smaller guys to choose for him to tussle with. Not a fast card, but a strong value play and doesn’t require the babysitting that the original Hogger required.
• Josh says: Some cool synergy in mage and warrior too that can easily ping him for the effect when needed. This is a great example of ways that Blizzard can put fun twists on old cards with this new Standard format.

Best to Dust

Shifter Zerus

• Josh says: Get a life, Zerus. And stop leeching off of everyone else’s successes. You disgust me.
• Scott says: I actually think he’s a decent card. Okay, well, maybe that’s too strong a statement. But he’s cool. I’d definitely invite him to a party.

Nat, the Darkfisher

• Scott says: Oh Nat. Even when you’re given the Davey Jones treatment, you’re still not good. A least you’ll have a home in mill decks, but that’s not exactly catapulting you into the big leagues.
• Josh says: Yeah, I mean you’re gaining one stat for giving your opponent a card every two turns? If the stats were at least reversed, it could have its uses as an up-trader (is that a word?)

Neutral Cards – Guilty Pleasures

Twisted Worgen

• Scott says: I