The Comprehensive The Great Dark Beyond Preview

 

Interstellar Researcher

A 2 mana 2/2 that tutors a card is already very strong, but Researcher has a spellburst ability that draws another. In terms of Libram consistency, this minion is paramount to the return of the archetype to competitive Standard play. With its help, we will find our Librams quickly and consistently.

What’s great about it is that we can play it on curve and enjoy the benefits of a 2-drop that is comparable in power to Hi Ho Silverwing, but the body is a threat that the opponent needs to clear too. The Draenei tag could be relevant if we opt for a heavier focus on the tribe, as all Libram Paladin minions are Draenei.

Mandatory inclusion in Libram decks going forward.

Score: 4

Libram of Clarity

A single discount on Libram of Clarity already makes it strong. Drawing 2 minions for 2 mana would be a constructed-worthy card in basically every class in the game, but Libram of Clarity can easily be discounted to 0 mana, turning it into a minion tutor that’s also worth 6 stats in total. This is the cheapest Libram, which makes it the easiest to discount to 0 mana, but we don’t think it’s imperative to discount it completely before playing it. It’s just an extremely powerful draw engine that suits the archetype perfectly.

Score: 4

Interstellar Wayfarer

We think this is the weakest Libram discounter printed yet. A 4 mana 4/2 with divine shield is a noticeably weaker minion than past Libram minions that were a 1 mana 1/3 or a 5 mana 4/6 taunt with a double discount. However, it is imperative that we run this card, as Librams are drastically stronger when they are fully discounted.

Wayfarer is a Draenei, so if we leaned on heavier synergies for the tribe, we could boost its stats, give it rush or other keywords, or even copy its effect with Velen or Astral Vigilant.

But if we are playing a ‘vanilla’ Libram Paladin, we’ll have to pay the tax of an underwhelming minion that may cause us to fall behind slightly, especially in faster matchups. This is the Dimensional Core of the Libram package.

Score: 3

Orbital Satellite

A 1-mana spell that discovers a single card is weak. Orbital Satellite discovers a Draenei, so it could tempt us to run it in a Libram deck, since all three Paladin Draenei minions belong to the Libram package. However, there are 13 neutral Draenei minions, giving us a 50% chance on a single discovery to find a Paladin Draenei.

The difference maker could be the adjacency bonus. Discovering two Draenei minions becomes a much stronger card for 1-mana, making it twice as likely that we find an important piece. However, adjacency is a condition that requires us to have a cheaper curve to use effectively. Should Libram Paladin pivot to a faster, tribalistic build, we can see Orbital Satellite providing it with more fuel.

Score: 2

Interstellar Starslicer

This weapon discounts our Librams twice; when we equip it and when we break it. The drawback is that it is a 3 mana 2/3 weapon, which means it doesn’t cleanly deal with around half of the early game minions in the format. That doesn’t feel great, but at least discounting Librams does.

The important note is that Instrument Tech has four more months in Standard, which makes a turn 3 Starslicer more consistent. Add Interstellar Wayfarer to the mix and fully discounting Libram of Divinity is a realistic prospect in the mid-game. That is when we believe the archetype power spikes. Interstellar Starslicer is crucial to make that happen.

Score: 3

Libram of Faith

The strongest Libram at its baseline. 3 3/3’s with divine shield is well above the curve at 6 mana, considering that a 2 mana 3/3 with divine shield would be the strongest 2-drop in the game’s history. A couple of discounts and we are looking at a powerful pressure turn that the opponent may struggle to handle. The divine shields make it difficult to cleanly deal with through AOE effects.

When Libram of Faith is fully discounted, it becomes absolutely cracked. Giving our minions rush turns Libram of Faith into a powerful swing card that guarantees strong trades on the board. However, fully discounting Libram of Faith is difficult. It requires us to find all copies of Interstellar Starslicer and Interstellar Wayfarer. Holy Cowboy and Sea Shill represent tools to make the full discount occur early in the game, but their discount is difficult to hold off for multiple turns before using it on another card. A turn 4 Libram of Faith sounds scary enough for the opponent though.

Realistically, the rush bonus will not happen before we reach the later stages of the game, but that doesn’t take away from how strong Libram of Faith’s baseline cost is, considering its further discount potential. We suspect this will prove to be one of the strongest pressure cards in the set.

Score: 4

Libram of Divinity

The weakest Libram at its baseline, but the strongest scaling one at a full discount. A 4 mana 3/3 buff is worse than Blessing of Kings, but a fully discounted Libram of Divinity provides us with free 3/3 stats every turn, with no real counterplay for the opponent. Silence doesn’t hurt us like it hurt the old Libram of Wisdom.

This card is the main reason we want to rapidly discount Librams, as once this card costs 0 mana, our deck becomes much more powerful. Two copies of Libram of Divinity being cast for free every turn is a monumentally difficult scenario to deal with.

We could even further power spike in the late game with Lady Liadrin. Once we generate a full hand of Libram of Divinity copies, OTK levels of burst from hand with Leeroy Jenkins becomes a serious threat.

This is the card that elevates Libram Paladin’s late game to be strong enough to compete with other strategies.

Score: 4

Celestial Aura

Not an easy card to evaluate due to its complex mechanics, so let us simplify it by carving its effect to pieces we are familiar with. A 6 mana 10/10 single stat-setting buff would be considered a reasonable constructed card. Old Dinosize saw fringe play as an 8-mana buff with the same effect.

Meanwhile, the restriction imposed on Celestial Aura resembles the one imposed on Soloist minions from Festival of Legends. Not even one of these cards has made it to constructed play, as the restriction has proven to be far too limiting in its usage.

Celestial Aura’s effect is contradictory to its restriction. It wants us to pressure the opponent, but that is difficult to do with a single minion in play. A charging Southsea Deckhand is the only interaction that seems powerful on the surface, but it is hard for us to think of a way this turns into a deck. A Righteous Protector/Celestial Aura is a 7-mana defensive play that doesn’t even seem that great.

We do not think this card makes sense for a faster deck that develops a board, or a slower one that may have difficulties keeping a board.

Score: 1

Yrel, Beacon of Hope

Yrel generates the three original Librams, one copy of each, every time. This is important, as the value carries no variance and can be planned around.

A 4/3 rush minion is worth about 3 mana, so for 2 extra mana, we generate 3 cards of a very high quality for a Libram Paladin deck. These are cards that we would run in the deck if we could, so it doesn’t compare to other generation effects with which we are familiar.

Yrel also fits the curve for the new Libram Paladin. A turn 3 Starslicer, turn 4 Wayfarer and turn 5 Yrel means that Libram of Hope is ready to be cast on turn 6, helping us swing back after making a few weaker turns that risk us falling behind.

Yrel’s Draenei tag could be important for several reasons. In the context of a tribal focus, her stats could improve, as the Draenei tribe has multiple minions that can buff her numbers to a stronger state. Velen dying after Yrel would generate another set of Librams, giving us massive reload potential. We could run Astral Vigilant to generate more copies of Yrel, turning Libram Paladin into a deck with serious grind potential.

We like Yrel’s design, as it brings back older cards without having them inserted into the Core set. Should become a staple in the archetype.

Score: 3

Lumia

A unique legendary with big stats for the cost, yet the effect can hardly be considered a drawback in a defensive minded deck. When Lumia is in play, there is an Evasion aura that affects both players. If they take damage on a turn, they become immune for the rest of that turn.

Lumia is a 6 mana 9/9, with lifesteal on top of it, so it is a difficult minion to kill and awkward to trade into without healing the Paladin to full. It isn’t a good pressure card, but a strong defensive stabilizer.

Lumia has both minion taunt and spell taunt. It doesn’t allow the opponent to damage with multiple minions, nor does it allow the opponent to burst us down with off-board damage. It is the ultimate roadblock for survival, forcing the opponent to first deal with a massive minion that risks healing us the next turn.

In a Lynessa Paladin package, Lumia can become downright oppressive. A turn 3 Sea Shill into a turn 4 Lumia is a game winning curve against aggressive decks, while a follow-up Conniving Conman is outright bullying. Conman/Lumia is a pairing that can outright stop a deck from executing its win condition over multiple turns in the late game.

Considering Lumia’s potential in a wide spectrum of matchups, we can see it becoming a staple card for all late game Paladin strategies. A game changer for the class in its ability to fight off late game lethality with a single, highly disruptive minion.

Score: 4

Final Thoughts

The Great Dark Beyond Set Rank: 1^st

Overall Power Ranking:  1^st

There’s a reason Team 5 chose to reveal this class set last. The Libram package is one of the most memorable set of cards in the class’ history. It is not surprising to see it being revisited with Draenei introduced as the main theme of the expansion. Based on the cost of the new Librams and their effects, we suspect they’ve been budgeted very generously to make this archetype succeed at launch, with the Libram discounters acting as the only notable balancing leash.

Every single Libram looks extremely powerful. Libram of Faith would be a great card if it just cost 5 mana. The fact that we can consistently discount it to 2-3 mana is remarkable. The amount of card draw available to the archetype is unlike anything we’ve seen from the class in a long time. Libram of Clarity and Interstellar Researcher are cracked by any objective measure.

The only Libram that looks a bit expensive is the same one that can turn into an infinite source of free stats every turn. Libram of Divinity is levels above the old Libram of Wisdom, capable of exerting so much pressure on the opponent.

What’s striking about the Libram package is that even though it can take up the space of half a deck, it’s still versatile enough to accommodate different playstyles. A control shell looks promising. A Lynessa shell looks promising. An aggressive shell looks promising. In fact, we suspect that the strongest Draenei deck will be a variant of Libram Paladin, mostly because the Libram package is so powerful.

It’s always hard to say what the worst class in the game is going to be, but over the last year, we’ve had a decent record at predicting what will dominate the game’s discourse at launch. Take this one to the bank: Librams will completely transform the class and prove to be an instant hit.