The Comprehensive TITANS Preview

 

Bellowing Flames

At its baseline, this spell deals 5 damage to a minion for 3 mana. That’s a little better than Shadow Bolt. Nothing crazy but will remove every single 3-drop in the game on curve, including the popular Hawkstrider Rancher.

Forging Bellowing Flames adds a second damage phase. After the 5 damage to a minion, 5 more damage is split between the remaining enemy minions. For 2 mana, this effect is much better than Minefield, which was not exclusive to enemy minions for the same investment.

A forged Bellowing Flames basically kills everything. It cleanly deals with a Giant. It deals with a Rancher and a couple of minions. No matter what your opponent puts on board, a turn 2 forge into Bellowing Flames should take care of business. A removal spell that can act both as single target removal and AOE is extremely valuable.

This spell is also very easy to forge, since it becomes such an incredible swing card that offsets skipping turn 2. Control Warrior is a deck that has always been able to skip the early couple of turns to build up to a stronger swing. Bellowing Flames is the perfect card for the archetype. Its Fire spell school tag could be relevant for Steam Guardian, but we play it regardless. It’s just so versatile.

Score: 4

Steam Guardian

A 3 mana 3/3 that draws a spell and discounts a spell? Note that the discounted spell can be any spell in your hand. It doesn’t have to be the one you draw, but any Fire spell will do.

This card is quite pushed and might be one of the most impactful additions in the Warrior set, since Warrior has been craving a spell tutor. The pairing with Blackrock & Roll is particularly striking. We can build a deck that runs Blackrock & Roll as the only spell. Steam Guardian will draw the legendary spell and discount it, allowing us to cast it as early as turn 4. A Blackrock & Roll Warrior that finds the best card in the deck consistently, every game? That’s something to think about.

Steam Guardian is also incredible in Enrage Warrior, since it has a sizeable package of Fire spells that can be discounted and it also has the Riff package, which it sure doesn’t mind finding more often. Since it’s an Elemental, you can run Steam Guardian in Menagerie Warrior and tutor Roaring Applause, or even Blackrock & Roll since the deck doesn’t run any other spells. Control Warrior is receiving a couple of very impactful Fire spells it will surely include in its build, so Steam Guardian looks like a staple there too.

Basically, Steam Guardian goes everywhere. This is a cracked glue card you’re going to see in every Warrior deck you can think of.

Score: 4

Craftsman’s Hammer

This weapon has the potential to kill three minions and gain 12 armor in the process. That’s an enormous stabilizing tool for Control Warrior. The value of 12 armor alone is easily worth 3 mana but slapping a 3/3 weapon on top of it seems like an amazing deal.

We don’t think people will understand how good this weapon is until they play against it. It allows Warrior to turn the corner like no other card. It highly discourages the opponent from developing minions into it, but it’s not like you have a choice as an aggressive deck. You need to play into it and hope the Warrior is eventually overwhelmed.

This weapon also allows the Warrior to bank armor gain for 0 mana in a turn, which could be important at activating some of the armor synergies available to the class. This may not look as strong as Outrider’s Axe at first glance (card advantage is generally stronger than armor), but we think it’s going to be just as impactful. Meta defining.

Score: 4

Smelt

This card is a bit strange. For 2 mana, we randomly buff a minion in our hand by +3/+3. The spell is cast again if we can pay 3 armor for the repeated effect.

This kind of effect would be strong in Enrage Warrior, but this archetype doesn’t run any tools to gain armor and it certainly can’t afford to spend mana on armor gain when it needs to take over the board, first and foremost. On the other hand, this type of effect isn’t very desirable for Control Warrior, a deck that doesn’t benefit as much from hand buffing but can certainly activate Smelt consistently.

We just don’t think it makes sense for either archetype. It’s an awkward fit.

Score: 1

Stoneskin Armorer

Stoneskin Armorer activates in case your armor count was changed on the turn. Whether you lost armor by taking damage or gained armor, it doesn’t matter to this 3-drop. If it activates, it draws 2 cards. For a 3 mana 3/4 to do that, it’s very strong.

Remember Craftsman’s Hammer? The weapon may not draw cards directly, but it’s a fantastic enabler for Armorer since you don’t need to spend mana to gain armor with it. Generally, this 3-drop is trivial to activate in Control Warrior since it has so many ways to gain armor on top of its hero power. Verse Riff stands out as another cheap activator.

What’s also great about this card is that Armorer can be played in single spell build of Blackrock & Roll Warrior. This archetype had issues with card draw in Festival of Legends, but it looks like Armorer solves a lot of problems for it.

Another big weakness of the class is addressed here.

Score: 4

Minotauren

Shieldmaiden has rush now. Minotauren has the same 5/5 stats but gains armor for the damage it deals, including damage it deals on the opponent’s turn if they trade into it!

Note that if it runs into a small 2/2 minion, it still deals 5 damage to it, which means you gain 5 armor. It always gains armor equal to the attack value if it deals damage. If Minotauren hits a divine shield, it will not gain armor, since no damage was dealt. If Minotauren hits a minion when you have an Enchanter in play, it will deal 10 damage and gain 10 armor. Warrior is probably not going to execute that combo, but you get the point.

This card is obviously insane considering that it’s basically a lifesteal minion for armor gain. Not only is it guaranteed to give you armor if you attack with it, but it’s also a threat that the opponent can’t trade into without giving you greater amounts of armor. This card demands removal from hand. What’s more is that Minotauren scales hard with buffs. Draw it off Chorus Riff and it’s now an 8/8 that gains 8 armor on every hit. Play Blackrock & Roll and you have yourself an 11/11. This card is a huge stabilizer for that archetype and a much better 6-drop than the currently available options.

What can we say? This card goes into every Warrior that aims to reach the late game. Complete powerhouse.

Score: 4

Furious Furnace

This card seems out of place. Furious Furnace is a 2 mana 1/3 magnetic mech that deals cleave damage, like a Hollow Hound. The idea is to attach it to a bigger mech and benefit from its ability on a bigger body.

But what mechs is Warrior going to play? The only enticing minion available is Zilliax, which is certainly powerful with Furious Furnace, but that’s just one card. The only other mech available that has rush is Mothership, which means we need to rely on mechs surviving a turn to combo them with Furnace. That’s just not going to be reliable enough to invest into, and we don’t play Furnace by itself in any deck. This is possibly a big picture card for a mech we haven’t seen, while Furnace has been added to the format early. Blizzard might have run out of busted cards to add to the class and decided to average things out a bit. Sensible.

Until we see a bigger picture, Furnace looks unplayable.

Score: 1

Trial by Fire

This is a complicated spell to understand. Trial by Fire summons 5 1/1 Val’kyr Champions to the board. Each one has a deathrattle that buffs the other Val’kyr Champions by +1/+1. Think of Rotgill’s buff. This works the same way, but the buff only affects Val’kyr Champions. It doesn’t buff other friendly minions in play.

So, if the first Val’kyr Champion runs into an enemy minion and dies, the other Champions become 2/2’s. Another one dies and the last three become 3/3’s.

If we calculate the maximum amount of rush damage this spell can deal in the case four Champions die in a turn, we reach 15 rush damage. As long as you keep running them into enemy minions to die, you can deal 15 damage to the opponent’s board. By comparison, a full board Scale of Onyxia has 14 rush damage.

This card is an incredible board control tool that can also be discounted by Steam Guardian to be played on turn 6. If you play this spell, the entire enemy board dies. The best thing about it is that if your opponent does not have a huge board, you can still play this, make a few trades, and build your own board. If you’ve played against Rotgill before, you know how annoying that buff can be to cleanly deal with.

Not that Control Warrior needs to build a board, but worst case, this card is the class’ version of Scale of Onyxia. Seems quite impactful.

Score: 4

Odyn, Prime Designate

This might be the greatest single card win condition ever given to Control Warrior. Not necessarily from a power perspective, but certainly from a flavor perspective.

Odyn, Prime Designate, turns all your armor gain into attack damage. Play a Heavy Plate? You just gained 8 attack damage. Tidal Revenant? 13 damage from hand in one card. Odyn highly encourages Control Warrior to run all the armor gain cards it can fit into a deck, because those cards not only help the archetype survive, but they now serve as late game nukes. Odyn turns the defensive turtle archetype into a ferocious killing machine with late game lethality at the highest level. Add Razorfen Rockstar into the equation, and a turn 8 Odyn could lead to a portrait exploding on turn 9. It’s certainly going to be extremely difficult to outlast Control Warrior once Odyn turns it on.

We did some quick math. How much armor gain can Warrior realistically fit into a 30-card build that can be converted into damage post-Odyn? Even if you exclude the potential of Razorfen Rockstar, Control Warrior can easily fit over 60 damage through armor gain. It’s going to spend some of that armor to survive before Odyn, of course, but you get the point. Even Blood-Ctrl Death Knight is going to struggle healing through this. Control Priest has no chance.

So, Control Warrior got some extremely powerful survivability tools and a high lethality win condition that comes online as soon as turn 9. Get ready for Odyn, Prime Degenerate.

Score: 4

Khaz’goroth

Khaz’goroth is a TITAN that impacts the board every time it casts an ability. It gains immune and attacks a random enemy minion. Its abilities boost its stats, which complements the amount of damage it can do. So even though Khaz’goroth is a TITAN, it gets to attack and trade favorably against an opponent’s board. Obviously, it’s more powerful when the opponent has few threats and it’s more likely to hit a desired target. Note that the buffs from these abilities are permanent, so Khaz’goroth grows bigger every time he gets to cast an ability.

Titanforge gives Khaz’goroth +2/+2 and draws a weapon. Warrior likes running weapons, so this ability should be useful in most Warrior decks. The buff means that Khaz’goroth can kill any moderately sized minion.

Tempering gives Khaz’goroth a massive +5 attack, while giving the hero +5 attack this turn as well. This ability is very aggressive and serves as a giant killer, since Khaz’goroth will have 9 attack as he enters the board at minimum. Your attack can also kill a minion, or just go face.

Heart of Flame gives Khaz’goroth +5 health, while giving the hero 5 armor. This is the best option if you’re trying to help the TITAN survive another turn, as it becomes more difficult to kill. The armor gain is also nice and turns into damage post-Odyn.

Khaz’goroth isn’t flashy, but it’s a very flexible card that impacts the board every turn and scales incredibly well with buffs since its stats are very relevant. It can be nice to draw off Chorus Riff. It’s very strong off Blackrock & Roll. It’s a TITAN that defensive Warrior decks should enjoy, but we do think it’s not as strong as most of the other TITANS in this set.

Score: 3

Final Thoughts

TITANS Set Rank: 1^st

Overall Power Ranking:  1^st

You’ve been waiting for this, Control Warrior players. You’ve been mocked for a year. Told that your favorite deck can’t be viable. That you don’t have a win condition. Those days are ending. Odyn is coming and with him, a new Control Warrior era.

Odyn might be the most anticipated card in this set. The most hyped card in the set, for a good reason. With him, Control Warrior will no longer spend the entire course of the game attempting to survive. Attempting to grind out the opponent until their resources are depleted and the Warrior can emote and claim victory. Once Odyn drops to the board, the entire game changes. The Hunter becomes the Hunted.

Warrior’s armor becomes its source of damage. The deck turns into a killing machine. The damage potential here is enormous. We’re not sure there’s a deck that can withstand Odyn. Being at full health means nothing against a Warrior. A Blood-Ctrl DK might have a chance. Otherwise, you need a lot of taunts. Something like a Drum Circle level of blockade could be a counter. Otherwise, a turn 8 Odyn leads to death by turn 10 at most. ZachO played a build of this deck and stopped after a few games because he felt sorry for the streamers.

But we can’t forget that Blackrock & Roll Warrior can now draw Blackrock & Roll every game. That’s an impactful change to the archetype. Steam Guardian, which is going to be an influential card in every Warrior deck, can now tutor this legendary spell and allow the Warrior to play it on turn 4 very consistently. This was another deck that was tested and felt very powerful. When you find the best card in your deck every game, your deck wins more often.

The entire Warrior set is just filled with so many insanely good cards. Trial by Fire and Bellowing Flames just kill so many board states. Minotauren is completely gross, especially in BRR Warrior. Craftsman’s Hammer is such an amazing stabilizing weapon. Stoneskin Armorer is the type of card draw that the class desperately needed. We didn’t even talk about Khaz’goroth, which is a good card but it’s probably not even in the top 5 Warrior cards of this set.

And then you have Enrage Warrior running Steam Guardian for its Fire spells. Menagerie Warrior could similarly just shove Blackrock & Roll in its deck and draw it quite consistently thanks to this 3-drop elemental. There’s so much potential here that we’ll just be shocked if the class does not impress. ZachO did win games with Millhouse Mage and Menagerie Death Knight back in the Festival theorycrafting event so maybe this is all an illusion. Maybe Control Warrior is still going to be bad and have a 40% win rate, as is tradition for the last year.

Or maybe, Garrosh is just going to kill everyone.