The Comprehensive Into The Emerald Dream Preview

Monstrous Mosquito

A 1-drop that is not really a 1-drop, but more of a cheap board buff. Mosquito’s effect occurs at the end of our turn, so we cannot leverage it for immediate damage, but we can play it alongside developing other minions and buff them without counterplay.

Considering its stats and cost, we would say that Mosquito becomes a powerful turn if we have three other minions in play. This should be feasible for an aggressive Death Knight deck, as the class has a sticky early game and multiple tools that allow it to go wide.

This seems like a strong card to add to any aggressive Death Knight deck going forward, with the absence of rune requirements making it extra flexible.

Score: 3

Rite of Atrocity

This spell resembles Nightmare Fuel. It is a 1 mana spell we do not want to play on turn 1, but it becomes powerful once its condition is active, and we add a Dark Gift to the minion we discover. Dark Gifts are worth 2 mana, so we are generating a resource at a mana discount.

The Undead pool is not particularly special, but Death Knight does have an affinity to the tribe, so it can often find some synergies with the minion it discovers. If our deck has an Unholy rune, this spell looks like an easy inclusion in both aggressive and defensive decks.

Score: 3

Infested Breath

It is important to note that “stealing” health means we are increasing our maximum health while reducing the opponent’s, just like the Azerite Snake. This makes Leeches very annoying on an empty board, where they drain the opponent’s health. Leech’s damage is not random, so we can funnel trades so that Leech will hit a desired target.

In the early game, Infested Breath performs similarly to other 2 mana, 3 damage, spells. If the opponent has a 3-health minion in play, Infested Breath will deal 2 damage to it, then the Leech will kill it. The major difference here is that the Leech stays on the board and threatens to suck the opponent for another turn. This makes Infested Breath stronger because we are developing a body that needs to be killed, as if it is a small taunt.

We believe this card will become a core glue card for different kinds of Death Knight decks. A removal card that can also hit face while healing us can fit both aggressive and defensive decks.

Score: 3

Morbid Swarm

Summoning a couple of 1/1’s for 1 mana has always been a playable constructed card, so Morbid Swarm becomes a strong consideration just through that option. Whether we are playing defensively or offensively, a couple of 1/1’s are just good at controlling the board.

The second option is not bad either, though it requires a small corpse investment. Dealing 4 damage to a minion for 1 mana is strong and should help us get ahead on board or efficiently fend off the opponent’s pressure.

Furthermore, this becomes the strongest enabler to Grotesque Runeblade, which we will talk about later. Any deck that runs Airlock Breach will be running Morbid Swarm without question.

Score: 3

Corpse Flower

A unique board control minion. Corpse Flower has no tradeable stats. It is a 3 mana, 5 health minion that shoots 3 damage bolts at every summoned enemy minion, if we have corpses to fuel its shots.

This is where we have trouble getting behind the card. How many corpses do we realistically generate by turn 3? We do not think we will have enough for more than a single shot. We can argue that a single shot is already good enough, but then there is the problem of Corpse Flower being a sitting duck to enemy minion trades.

If we are playing Corpse Flower, we must assume we are playing a defensive deck that is reactive in nature, as this is not a minion that suits an aggressive deck. The problem with that is that slower decks are more likely to fall behind early, which leaves Corpse Flower with the problem of taking free hits from minions on the board.

The ideal situation for Corpse Flower is that we have corpses, the opponent does not have minions in play, and we are dropping it on turn 3 with 5 health, which makes it difficult to kill. Not a scenario we think will happen often. This card might surprise us because it is weird, but our initial gut feeling is that it is not good enough.

Score: 1

Sanguine Infestation

We believe that a Leech, as a standalone minion, is worth roughly 1 mana. Two Leeches are then worth roughly 2 mana, which budgets the draw effect at around 2 mana. With that view, Infestation is a good source of card draw.

This is a draw effect that heals us, potentially removes minions in play and develops a couple of soft taunts that the opponent must kill. That seems like a lot of things packed into an Arcane Intellect. We would compare this card to Chrono Boost, though it is a bit worse than that.

The price of efficiency is a double Blood rune requirement, which we expect will be competitive with a double Unholy selection in decks that run Airlock Breach. Death Knight does not have robust card draw, so this spell will be a tempting pick.

Score: 3

Grotesque Runeblade

Runeblade makes two checks. Did the last card have an Unholy Rune? If so, it gains one attack. Did the last card have a Blood rune? If so, it gains one durability.

If the last card we played had both a Blood and an Unholy rune, Runeblade becomes a 2 mana 3/3 weapon, which is crazy good. However, there is only one card that can activate it on curve, which is Morbid Swarm. Airlock Breach and Headless Horseman can do that later in the game but turn 7 is when a 3/3 weapon will have less of an impact.

Clearly, we have a problem with the average outcome of this card. If Runeblade is only good with Morbid Swarm, then is it consistent enough as an early game mulligan priority? We do not think it is. 2-attack weapons are terrible, so we would like an Unholy 1-drop to give us a Fiery War Axe, but Rite of Atrocity is not a card we want to play on turn 1 and there is pretty much nothing else besides a useless Auchenai Death-Speaker.

If there was another Unholy/Blood 1-drop, or even a playable Unholy 1-drop, we would rate this weapon highly. As of now, it feels like a weapon that might be inconsistent this expansion, but we would watch out for its potential in future sets.

Score: 2

Hideous Husk

Husk summons a couple of Leeches but also has an aura effect that makes them more powerful. Each Leech in play steals 3 health from the lowest health enemy, which is a massive difference. This means that upon entering play, Husk will heal us for 6 and deal 6 total damage to the opponent’s board or face. All of this happens on top of developing a 3/5 and a couple of 0/2’s that cannot ever be ignored.

We can compare this card to Gnome Muncher and immediately understand how superior it is in every scenario that does not involve handbuffs. It does not take damage when it deals damage, and it summons multiple bodies that all need to be cleared. Of course, it becomes even more insane if we have other Leeches in play.

In fact, this minion is outright oppressive on an empty board, which makes us wonder whether an aggressive, “blood sucking” deck is possible with Husk sitting at its top end. This is not just a stabilizer for the Blood-Ctrl Death Knight decks we are familiar with. This is a genuine burn card for aggressive Blood Death Knight decks, if they ever exist.

Score: 3

Nythendra

This is a very sticky taunt that is difficult to get rid of. The way it works is that when Nythendra dies, the board is filled with beetles. If those beetles are not all killed, Nythendra revives at the start of our turn with the total stats of the surviving beetles. For example, if we have 5 surviving beetles, Nythendra will come back as a 5/5. This will continue until all beetles die.

This means that to cleanly deal with Nythendra, the opponent needs to kill a big minion but also needs AOE for the beetles. Killing it every turn may prevent us from being able to attack with Nythendra, but we will be happy to have a recurring taunt that resurrects every turn and protects us.

We do think this legendary might be hard to leverage. Deathrattle synergies are not the best with Nythendra. The beetles are limited by board space. Wakener of Souls does get an interesting resurrection target, but we are not convinced. If Airlock Breach Death Knights opt for a double Unholy build, they may slap this card into the deck and trust its standalone power.

Score: 2

Ursoc

Ursoc works like Deathwing, Mad Aspect. It attacks all minions in play, including our own, in a random order. The difference is when it dies, it summons whatever minions it killed.

This makes Ursoc an insane swing card in theory. The opponent can have a board, we play Ursoc, which proceeds to kill all the minions until it dies in the process, and then the turn ends with the opponent’s board becoming our own.

Of course, this is an ideal situation that requires the board to have at least 14 attack in play, but we might not be too upset at an Ursoc surviving and hanging around as long as we cleared the board.

Ursoc belongs in a defensive, late-game-oriented deck, akin to Blood-Ctrl or Rainbow Death Knight. With the loss of Soulstealer, the class should appreciate this card, though it is not as reliable and consistent.

Score: 2

Final Thoughts

Into the Emerald Dream Set Rank: 4^th

Overall Power Ranking: 8^th

Death Knight is losing many important tools in rotation, on top of seeing its major competitive deck severely nerfed in patch 32.0. Zerg Death Knight is likely gone. Our feeling was that the class needed a powerful set that could stabilize it. Early impressions are positive, as Death Knight is getting a versatile set that can help numerous potential strategies.

The Leech package is the highlight for Death Knight. We think Leeches are going to prove to be more powerful and annoying than they might seem on the surface. Hideous Husk is an excellent 6-drop that sets a clear game plan for slower lists to survive until turn 6, where they can either turn the corner with Husk or Airlock Breach.

However, Leeches may prove to be powerful in faster decks too. We would not be surprised to see the first ever aggressive deck emerge from Blood Death Knight. Monstrous Mosquito is a good support card if we are going wide and there is an angle to leverage wide boards with Menagerie Jug and Mug with the Undead and Beast tribes having synergy with each other.

As for the late game, Death Knight has several routes. Starship Death Knight is receiving help in the form of cheap spells that can trigger Guiding Figure, which can alleviate the loss of Yelling Yodeler. 8 Hands from Beyond is receiving a boost from Shaladrassil and Ursoc, which can help us swing the board back. Nythendra is a stabilizing option if we opt for double Unholy runes along with Soul Searching and Assimilating Blight. 

The main issue Death Knight has is that there is nothing remarkable about its options. It looks solid. Other classes look more explosive and spectacular.