Now begins one of the most exciting times for Hearthstone fans: discovering and scrutinizing new cards.
Blizzard just revealed the newest adventure for its digital card game. One Night in Karazhan will release 45 new cards over the course of a month starting on August 11. Hearthstone makes $20 million a month, and it is the leader in the $1.2 billion digital card game market. It’s also one of the most popular games in the blooming esports scene. Releasing new content shakes up the game for fans, opening up new possibilities for decks and strategies.
Along with the announcement, Blizzard also revealed the first seven cards that are part of the Karazhan set. You can see them (along with a little analysis) below.
This card isn’t flashy, but a 2/2 minion that costs 1 mana is an insane value. Plus it’s a beast, so it will have a lot of synergy with other cards. The Enchanted Raven could help Druid’s early game immensely.
Sticky minions are always effective in Hearthstone, since they can survive board clears and other spells. This is especially true now that silence effects are at a premium in the current meta. Deathrattle minions also have great synergy these days thanks to Legendary cards like N’Zoth and the Hunter exclusive Princess Huhuran.
This could be a great tempo card for Mages, since it could allow them to destroy an enemy minion while simultaneously putting one of their own board. With a little luck, this could swing a likely defeat into a narrow victory.
Discovering a spell is always helpful. Getting one random spell often means you’ll suffer from bad luck, but getting to choose between three means that you’ll likely find something that can help. The healing effect is a nice bonus, plus you get to play a 4/4 minion. Ivory Knight could become a staple in control-style Paladin decks.
Rogue currently has a few tools, like Burgle and Undercity Huckster, that give you cards from your opponent’s class. Ethereal Peddler could make those cards cheaper, and his 5/6 stats are actually not bad for a 5 mana minion.
Now this is interesting. We have Murloc decks, we have Dragon decks, and we have Beast decks, but you don’t often see one with all three. The Curator could encourage players to try out some new deck-building strategies.
Barnes could be a fun addition in a deck with a lot of strong Deathrattle minions. Imagine playing this on turn 4, getting a 1/1 Deathwing, Dragonlord. It could then die and suddenly put Malagos, Ysera, and more on the battlefield.
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