The Comprehensive Into The Emerald Dream Preview

 

Avant-Gardening

With the understanding that a Dark Gift is worth 2 mana, Avant-Gardening discovers a minion for a net 0 mana cost. Cards that discover with no net cost usually see play. The deathrattle minion pool is big, so it does not have a special quality, but Warlock does have a major incentive this expansion to stack Dark Gift cards thanks to Wallow.

We expect this card to see play because it is too important with Wallow, and we have faith in Wallow as a win condition for the class.

Score: 3

Rotten Apple

Apple’s net health gain is 6 for 2 mana. That is not good. Rotten Apple could be useful in a desperate situation where we get a burst heal and survive for a turn, but even in that scenario, Apple is unlikely to save us from dying if we do not have other healing effects to follow up.

The other, more critical, issue with the card is that it is healing that does not impact the board. Cards that only gain life need unique circumstances to be useful. For example, Safety Goggles is strong because it enables Hostile Invader and Sanitize. Rotten Apple does not enable anything important in the upcoming format. Self-damage is not important for slow Warlock decks.

We think this card does not have a competitive place.

Score: 1

Hungering Ancient

This is an expensive minion that acts as a threat and pseudo draw. The draw effect is not something that Warlock should ever count on, as there are much better options out there if we are looking to draw cards. We should judge Hungering Ancient as a threat.

Let us assume that the average size of a minion in our deck is a 4/4. In this case, Hungering Ancient is an 8 mana 10/11. Even if we build around this minion more aggressively, we do not think this is an impressive threat to play on 8 mana. An 8 mana 15/16 would still not move us, because at this stage of the game, every slow deck should have removal for it, while the card is irrelevant in faster matchups.

Something crazy needs to happen to the format for this card to become competitive. 8 mana piles of stats that have no immediate impact on the board is the definition of unplayable. If we ever get to attack with Hungering Ancient, we were in a winning position anyway.

Score: 1

Rotheart Dryad

A 1 mana 1/1 that draws a card is always good, even if the effect is packed into a deathrattle. It is rare that cheap bodies that cycle themselves do not see play. The only downside of Dryad is that it draws an expensive card in the early game, but smart deckbuilding can help us turn it into an upside. Expensive minions often are win conditions, so we do not mind finding them more consistently. Dryad can find us Wallow, Agamaggan, and The Ceaseless Expanse. Alternatively, we could use it to draw defensive cards like Eredar Brute.

This 1-drop is quite easy to fit into decks, so we expect it to be popular in slower Warlock strategies. Aggressive decks will skip it, as it is difficult to fit expensive minions in them.

Score: 3

Overgrown Horror

A 5 mana 4/6 taunt is just about the stats you would expect from a vanilla minion, so Horror needs to have significant upside to see play. We believe it does if the Warlock deck stacks Dark Gift cards. A single Dark Gift minion in hand already sets up Horror to get us ahead, but ideally, we want at least two Dark Gift minions in hand to leverage Horror hard enough to outpace the opponent. This is a very realistic goal to have on turn 5, considering that Warlock can have 9 Dark Gift generators it can play before the Horror turn.

Considering that Dark Gift stacking is something the class benefits from more than any other class in the game, we think Horror is an addition to a deck that tries to build around Wallow.

Score: 3

Sleep Paralysis

This is one of the more interesting Choose One cards this expansion, because it is a bit tricky to evaluate. Obviously, destroying a minion for 5 mana is bad. There is no question that if we are looking for single target removal, we should not be looking for Sleep Paralysis.

However, the second option is intriguing, mostly because of another card in this set. A couple of 3/6 taunts are quite big in terms of stabilizing. Even if those minions cannot attack, this is a lot of taunt health in a single card. Still, spending 5 mana on minions that cannot attack does not seem ideal.

But then, there is Fractured Power, which we will talk about soon. The important thing to understand is that 5 mana is a key breakpoint in decks that utilize Fractured Power, because that is turn 4, when we gain back our mana crystals. This is also a turn where we are most vulnerable, so slapping a couple of big taunts to just stall the game does not seem like a bad idea.

This is a Fractured Power follow up. We either play them together, or we do not touch this card ever.

Score: 2

Archdruid of Thorns

A cheap minion that we cannot consider as an early game body, as its ability is uniquely fitting for scenarios that happen later in the game. This Archdruid gains the deathrattles of ALL friendly minions that died this turn. This means we want to play Archdruid when we can sack at least one high value deathrattle. A 2 mana 3/2 becomes very powerful if you attach late game deathrattles to it.

The minions that interest us here are demonic taunts that Nemsy can cheat out: Enhanced Dreadlord, Wretched Queen and Mo’arg Forgefiend. Not only is Archdruid strong with Nemsy, but it is a great card to play whenever we can kill these 8-drops on our turn. If a Nemsy Demon Warlock ever sees play, this minion will be a part of it.

Otherwise, it will require future support of new deathrattle minions.

Score: 2

Fractured Power

Fractured Power is an interesting ramp card, which fits Warlock’s flavor. The class was given many cards in the past that destroy mana crystals, but this one might be the strongest one, as it leaves us with a gain of mana in two turns.

The way Fractured Power works is that if we play it on turn 2, we will have 2 mana to use on turn 3. Then on turn 4, we will have 5 mana available to us. Note that we lose and gain full mana crystals, not empty ones! This means we need to be mindful to play Fractured Power last on later turns, or it will destroy a mana crystal before we can use it.

A curve of 2-2-5 works fine for Warlock. After all, we can always life tap for 2 mana. We would like to have more 2 mana plays in a deck’s curve when it runs Fractured Power, but the bottom line is that Fractured Power is only 2 mana worse than the original Wild Growth.

2 mana Wild Growth is arguably one of the strongest cards in the game’s history, so there is no shame in being slightly worse than that. We have little doubt that every late-game-oriented Warlock deck will want this spell. A two-year staple for Warlock going forward. Who is the Druid now?

Score: 4

Wallow, the Wretched

The biggest payoff to the Dark Gift mechanic in the set. Note that Wallow does not have a battlecry. It passively gains every Dark Gift you discover. You do not have to play the minions you discover with Dark Gift! You simply need to generate them.

The game plan here is not complicated. Warlock has access to 9 Dark Gift generators. There are 10 different Dark Gifts. One of them gives a minion Charge. Another gives them Divine Shield and Windfury. Find those, add attack buffs and Wallow can kill an opponent from full health.

This is such an easy to execute win condition, supported by a package of 10 cards, that we can see it being splashed in different shells. Rotheart Dryad can also draw us Wallow, so we should always have it on time.

An easy to execute win condition that can complement any strategy that looks to prolong the game. We believe Wallow will prove to be one of the best charge minions in the history of the game.

Score: 4

Agamaggan

10-mana is a steep cost, but Agamaggan allows us to chain another card alongside it that will cost the opponent’s health. This effect can also kill the opponent, if we are spending more mana than the opponent’s health.

We need to remember that Agamaggan does not cheat out any card earlier than we can normally play it. After all, we need 10 mana to play it. There is a difference between playing a 6-drop on turn 3 for 3 mana, compared to playing that 6-drop on turn 6 for 0 mana. The first play is more powerful, as the opponent is less likely to be able to deal with the 6-drop when they have less mana and drawn less resources at that stage of the game.

So, we do not believe Agamaggan is that crazy. The one interaction we like with it is Shaladrassil, as it allows us to corrupt and play Shaladrassil on the same turn. Add Ysera to the deck alongside Fractured Power, and we have a sick turn on 12 mana (Agamaggan/Shaladrassil/Awakens) that nukes the opponent’s board and deals 12 damage to their face. Whether that is relevant in the average Hearthstone game is a legitimate question.

This card has a good chance of seeing play immediately, while possessing the potential to become busted in the future if we gain tools to discount it.

Score: 3

Final Thoughts

Into the Emerald Dream Set Rank: 1^st

Overall Power Ranking: 3^rd

Warlock looks like a major winner of the Emerald Dream. It is receiving a set with one of the most straightforward and powerful win conditions in the expansion.

Wallow represents a simple game plan that should prove to be remarkably consistent. Stack all Dark Gift cards from the Warlock and the neutral set. Surround the Dark Gift package with a survivability shell that makes sense, as well as a secondary win condition. Queue up. Find Charge. Find Divine Shield and Windfury. Find attack buffs. Mission complete. This might be one of the most powerful decks from this expansion.

There is more to Warlock than that though. We expect it to be one of the most likely classes to successfully utilize Shaladrassil. It has ramp and powerful late game cards that can corrupt it. Wheel of Death suddenly looks enticing again, especially if Warlock faces armor stacking turtle decks that counter Wallow. Agamaggan and Ysera are superb enablers of Shaladrassil too.

Location Warlock loses some of its late game (Symphony, Sargeras), as well as Forge of Wills, but we do not believe the deck is dead by any means. It is not difficult to greed-up a deck when necessary. We can simply throw a Dark Gift package in to provide it with inevitability or even lean harder into Ultralisk Cavern by adding Scrapbooking Students. It can now tutor Giants with Dryads too. 

When deckbuilding, Warlock players should think hard about the 5-mana slot. It will be the key payoff mana slot to either stabilize or pressure following a turn 2 Fractured Power. Nemsy costs 5 mana and is quite strong with Archdruid of Thorns. Crane Game corrupts Shaladrassil. Big demon enjoyers, there might be something to cook here.

We expect Warlock to be one of the strongest, most gifted classes.