Tyrantus: 3 Star (Solid and simple card which will do wonders in a control meta but my be a bit too slow in an aggressive one)

Giant Anaconda: 2 Star (Super slow even in a control meta)

Evolving Spores: 2 Star (Rather weak for the cost and is basically a win-more card)

Shellshifter: 4 Star (A very flexible card which would only be better if it had a tribal tag)

Earthen Scales: 2 Star (Seems slow and it doesn’t look like it would affect much in the early game or late game)

Elder Longneck: 2 Star (I’m not convinced by this card, the risk of having just 1 health seems too much for its upsides…)

There was a lot of speculation surrounding the Druid legendary quest spell but it’s safe to say that no one could have predicted this card. Jungle Giants requires you to summon 5 minions with 5 or more attack to complete it, a task that Druids can pull off without too much difficulty.

The reward, on the other hand, is unrepresentative of the task, Barnabus the Stomper. This is a 5 mana 8/8 Beast (where have we seen this before?) which when played reduces the cost of minions in your deck 0.

It’s hard to explain how amazing this reward is without resorting to over the top descriptives, so I’m going to use one; bloody hell this is a game winning effect! 

The quicker you complete this quest the better every card in your deck will become, this makes cards like the Tyrantus insane along with any strong minion in the game. The downside is that you must draw into these minions after you complete this quest which leaves your plays up to luck.

This is where the card falls down and changes from amazing to just average. This deck will be around but don’t expect big things from it.

In keeping with Druids new quest and the theme of efficient value cards we now examine Tortallan Forager, a 2 mana 2/2 minion which when played adds a random minion with 5 or more attack to your hand.

While being directly comparable with Hydrologist (same stats, same effect to add a card but lacking a tag), this card is so much better.

The card you gain here will have an impact on the board whenever you play it as the options are always going to have, at least, big stats, they also count towards the completion of the quest which is just awesome. Great card all around.

Terrorscale Stalker: 3 Star (Nice effect but slightly lower stats, requires a board presence to be good)

Raptor Hatchling: 4 Star (Strong 1 drop but there is a chance you may never see the other Raptor)

Grievous Bite: 2 Star (Barely made it out of being a 1 Star card as it is rather weak but has applications in the current aggressive meta)

Stampede: 3 Star (An awesome card which can net you some strong value but is a bit too wild and random in general. Basically, a win-more card)

Dinomancy is not a good spell. Then why have I highlighted it?

Well, its effect is to turn your hero power into “Give a Beast +2/+2” alludes to a deck that I have wanted to exist for a long time; mid-range to Control Hunter.

This card gives Hunter the ability to at least consider creating this type of deck and for that, I respect it.

This does allow for the conception of this deck to grow throughout each expansion that will be in this rotation so keep this card in your sights for the future…

Jeweled Macaw, conversely, is an amazing card. As a 1 mana 1/1 Beast, the mere act of playing it helps the Hunters quest.

The extra upside that when it is played, you add a random Beast to your hand. Honestly?

I can’t see any time in which this is a bad thing; every Beast in rotation has some time in which it can be played which is great.

It can even add another 1 cost minion which will aid you on the Hunters quest! If you run a Hunter deck, run this card.

Meteor: 3 Star (A confirmed kill on any minion and splash damage makes this a simple just great card for a 6 cost spell, but will likely be one of the first cards cut in the deck building process)

Steam Surger: 3 Star (Basic value card with a good upside but could see this being cut from Elemental mage decks)

Molten Reflection: 3 Star (Gimmicks aside this card has potential and will see some play but will most likely start being cut from players decks very quickly)

Controversial statement time! I think this Quest is bad. The Mage legendary quest spell requires you to play 6 cards from outside or your deck to complete it.

This means you must use cards which are added to your hand via other cards like Babbling Book. That’s a big ask so the reward must be good, right?

It is a 5 mana spell which when played allows you to TAKE ANOTHER TURN.

That is just awesome; you can see the deck now, on the turn in which you get the spell, play two Arcane Giants, then play Time Warp (which allows you to take another turn), play Alexstrasza on your opponent and then attack for 16 damage thus winning the game!

Does that sound over the top? Because it is and it’s the reason this deck doesn’t fit in this meta. You will lose before you can even pull this combo off against any aggro, mid-range and even some other control decks.

Fantastic concept and unique effect but it are not going to be making waves in this meta.

Sometimes simplicity wins and that is what Primordial Glyph is; simple.

A 2 mana spell which lets you Discover a spell and then add it to your hand with its cost reduced by 2. This is comparable to Unstable Portal, a card which saw play in every single deck it could. The difference here is that the spell now has another use; it can help you complete the Mage quest.

With this in mind, and adding on the utility that the Discover mechanic provides, this card can be rather strong.

Don’t even get me started on how ridiculous it can get if it Discovers itself!

This is a great card and should see a fair amount of play, even in non-quest Mage decks.

Shimmering Tempest is a card which, objectively is not that great. As a 2 mana 2/1 Elemental its stats leave a lot to be desired.

Even its Deathrattle effect of adding a random mage spell to your hand is a bit on the weak side. However, if you look at this card as a complete package, it actual is a lot more versatile than you would think.

On the one hand, look at it in the Quest Mage deck, it can be played on curve after activating the quest and nets you a card to help complete it.

It even has aggressive stats in order to hold its own as a 2 drop when played this way and is weak enough that the Deathrattle will always go off.

On the other hand, in the Elemental Mage deck, it has a low enough cost that it can be played as an activator for other Elementals you can draw and has the potential of gaining you an extra card to retain card advantage.

A good card for Mage which you will be seeing around for a while into Un’Goro’s meta.

Primalfin Champion: 2 Star (Why is this card a Murloc? Weak in terms of power and effect)

Vinecleaver: 3 Star (A decent weapon but over costed; 6 mana may have made this card a lot better)

Spikerbridged Steed: 2 Star (Slow card with a small impact on the board even with the extra creature summoned. Just barely missed out on being a 3 star)

Lightfused Stegodon: 2 Star (Quartermasters boring cousin; has a random impact and doesn’t seem worth it to play)

Adaptation: 2 Star (Does not seem worth the time to play this card unless the buff Paladin deck actually takes off)

Poor poor Paladin, what have you done to deserve this? Paladins legendary quest spell is not good at all. First off, to complete this quest you have to play 6 spells on your own minions.

While paladin does have some alright cards to cast on minions, they are not widely played or even that good when used.

So, the activation is not that great, so the reward must be amazing to compensate, right? Not really; after completing the quest you receive Galvadon, a 5 mana 5/5 Beast which when played Adapts five times.

Again, this is rather lacklustre as this minion has no immediate impact on the board when played and is vulnerable to hard removal which is going to see more play.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times in which you can pull this quest off and play the perfect Galvadon, but those times will be few and far between and that makes this card just not worth it.

Lyra the Sunshard: 2 Star (This was supposed to be overpowered? Random Priest spells are not great and it is low on stats, really poor card)

Free from Amber: 1 Star (This is just bad across the board, why not just put the 8 cost minion in your deck?)

Radiant Elemental: 4 Star (A really good card with nice stats and a great effect, however, Priest will not be able to get much use out of this cards Elemental tag or when it played on a curve)

Binding Heal: 2 Star (A sort of better Flash heal? This card is not that great and will have a low impact on the game state whenever it is played)

Biteweed: 2 Star (A mini Edwin VanCleef in every regard and because of that it’s not that great, has potential though)

Obsidian Shard: 3 Star (Becomes good when discounted once and played on curve, outside of that it doesn’t seem to be that strong)

Razorpetal Lasher: 2 Star (The adding of a 1 mana spell to your hand in Rogue isn’t really strong and doesn’t seem that useful. Has potential to boost the Miracle Rogue deck however)

Razorpetal Volley: 2 Star (Speaking of a boost to Miracle Rogue; that is this cards purpose. Outside of that it seems quite weak)

Hallucination: 2 Star (OK at best, the random side of the card makes this not that great to play over other more impactful cards like Swashburglar)

Most Rogue decks will most likely be formed with the new quest in mind and Envenom Weapon will be the card they need in order to make that quest happen.

As a 3 mana spell it is not that costly to play and with good reason as it gives your current weapon Poisonous.

To put this in perspective, by using your hero power for 2 mana and then playing this card, for 5 mana you can kill any minion, twice.

That is basically an Assassinate, which granted was not seeing much play, but twice as good.

The versatility here goes without saying; you can act immediately after using it and take out a big threat and continue to threaten every other card your opponent plays in the next turn.

Super good card whichever way you look at it.

Spirit Echo: 3 Star (has applications in aggro and control decks but I can’t see where I would fit this card into those decks. If you have room it can be used but as a 1 of at best)

Fire Plume Harbinger: 3 Star (I’m nervous to give this score because cost reduction cards normally end up being amazing, but it just doesn’t feel that strong to play outside of being on curve and even then, the tempo in the early game has been lost due to the low stats)

Tidal Surge: 1 Star (Yuck, outclassed by other Shaman cards)

Hot Spring Guardian: 4 Star (Yet another card with a good score that is really simple; good stats, Elemental tag, good effect and decent cost. Not much more to say outside of that)

Air Elemental: 2 Star (Close to being a 3 Star but it only deters Mages from killing it efficiently thanks to its effect, outside of that it is just barely okay)

By now, you should know that I have a somewhat obvious love for Murloc cards and believe that Murloc decks can be good if given the chance.

A key factor into why I still believe this is Primalfin Totem, a 2 mana 0/3 Totem which, during the end of your turn, summons a 1/1 Murloc.

Looking at the stats we effectively have a 2 mana 1/4 Minion with two tags; this is a great in itself, but being spread across two minions makes this card a lot better.

If left unchecked, this Totem can put on a fair bit of early game pressure and, if you are using the Shaman quest card, help to complete the quest much faster.

This card will be a key card included in a Murloc deck for sure but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

Having no attack makes it great weapon bait and fast decks can sometimes afford to ignore it or even remove it with no real loss.

Despite this however, expect to see at least one of this card in every Murloc deck you see.

Chittering Tunneler: 2 Star (Eh. That about sums this up; just does not seem worth it to use this card.

Bloodbloom: 2 Star (Could be good but the loss in card advantage and health seems a bit unbalanced)

Feeding Time: 1 Star (What is this card? Extremely weak for its cost and the impact on the board is minimal)

Tar Lurker: 3 Star (Sorry buddy, Tar Creeper has your number here. Not great stats for a 5 mana minion and has a small impact during your turn even when played on curve)

Cruel Dinomancer is a rather unique card, as a 6 mana 5/5 minion it is lacking in stats but you won’t be playing it for that.

You will want to use its Deathrattle, which allows you to summon a minion you have discarded randomly after it dies.

Resurrection effects are few and far between in Hearthstone and they normally are normally rather good; Resurrect saw a lot of play and Onyx Bishop was ran in lots of Priest decks.

The random factor to this summoning is the major downside here; if you have discarded weak cards then bringing on back on turn 6 plus will not really achieve anything other than being a slight annoyance to your opponent.

Even with this downside though, you can expect to see this card around in discard based Warlock decks, even if it is just a tech card at 1.

Why has Warlock received so many Beasts? Ravenous Pterrodax is a 4 mana 4/4 Beast which when played destroys one of your minions and then Adapts twice; typical of the Warlock class, destruction to get ahead.

If this card is played on curve to little cost, the advantage you get here is great, Adapting twice is a strong ability but therein lies the problem.

This card is best played on a curve AND using its effect to destroy a card which nets you an advantage (the new Devilsaur egg jumps straight to mind).

Setting this scenario up in the early game seems highly unlikely and the tempo loss can be crippling.

Thankfully this card is saved by just how good Adaptation can be; expect to see this card floating around in some variants of Zoo or other swam based decks.

King Mosh: 3 Star (The king of control metas. In a control game this card can be crippling if played right but in any other meta is just too slow)

Sudden Genesis: 3 Star (Comparable to Blood Warriors, a card that saw little to no play, but may see some use in a mid-range Warrior deck)

Direhorn Hatchling: 3 Star (Good and cute card with a nice upside but relies on luck to redraw the minion that you shuffle into your deck)

Cornered Sentry: 2 Star (Love the idea of this card but why not just use Pompous Thespian or even Dirty Rat? The downsides for this card seem too high)

Tar Lord: 3 Star (Tar Creeper still reigns supreme even in this case. The presence this card has for a taunt minion is minimal as a 7 drop even with the high health)

Ornery Direhorn: 2 Star (Filler card with a filler effect. Shouldn’t see much play)

Iron Hide: 3 Star (This could be the card to bring back Control Warrior as a deck which is exciting but unlikely. This card will go up in score if the meta changes to allow that deck to shine)

I think everyone could have predicted the Warrior legendary quest card. Fire Plume’s Heart requires you play 7 Taunt minions to complete it and when you do you are rewarded with Sulfuras.

This is a 4 mana 4/2 weapon which when played turns your hero power into “Deal 8 damage to a random enemy”. Basically, you become Ragnaros!

While the reward on paper seems strong, the weaknesses it presents ruin it. The weapon, while instant in how it can be used, is a bit underwhelming and the hero power, which is again strong, is random which instantly makes it worse.

Couple this with the quests cost it makes this quite a slow quest to complete, and in an aggressive meta, you will be dead before you can.

Don’t get me wrong, if the meta heads in a more control direction this quest will see much more play, but as things are now it’s doubtful that this card will make any sizeable impact.

I think it is safe to say that this is one of the better designed Hearthstone sets that Blizzard has created. Hyperbole and hype aside I am genuinely excited to jump into the Year of the Mammoth and get deck building as soon as possible.

However, have I missed a good card? Or rated something higher than expected? Or too low? Let us know and make sure to check back after Journey to Un’Goro is released for an analysis of the cards have shaped the meta.

I wonder how right we were?