Starting with the Shaman spell, Volcano; while the card is rich in flavour and an appropriate choice to give players an idea of the themes around this new set, the card itself is not that good. 5 mana with 2 overload to do 15 damage is hard to justify when there are much more efficient forms of removal in the class such as, for example, Lightning Storm. It could see play if the meta changes to be midrange to control orientated, but this is doubtful.

The Druid minion Verdant Longneck is a tricky card to evaluate due to the new “Adapt” keyword giving it 10 possible upgrades to fit to any scenario. In this case, the base card is what we have to go off and it’s not all that impressive. As a 5 mana for 5/4 with the Beast tribe tag, the Longneck doesn’t seem to be a card worth that much, even with its possible enhancements added on. However, the Beast Druid deck has been toeing the line of becoming a viable deck for a while now. If the set receives more Beast support (and I think it’s likely to) this card may end up being better than we think…

The Mage legendary minion Pyros looks pretty bad on the face of it. A 2 mana 2/2 deathrattle minion which becomes a 6 mana 6/6 and then a 10 mana 10/10 seems painfully slow and a bit weak. However, what Pyros offers is consistency. It’s the card you play when you have no better card for that turn. I know what you are thinking, why play it then? Why not just run a “better” card? Why, for the combos of course! One that jumps to mind is using N’Zoth, the Corruptor; playing N’Zoth on turn 10 after having Pyros die twice means, that on summon, N’Zoth’s Battlecry summons a 2/2 and a 6/6 minimum which on death add a 6/6 and a 10/10 to your hand. In theory, you could end up playing Pyros as a 10/10 three times in one game! That is amazing value in a control matchup, but therein lies the problem. Pyros is a control, and maybe midrange, players card and the meta would have to suit this for it to be useful. Hard to say but it may be worth keeping an eye on this one.

Before we consider the new priest legendary quest spell, we should think about a few of the mechanics of the quest card. Since it will always be in your starting hand if you include it in your deck, you never have to worry about drawing it late (or at all). This also helps since you can mulligan the card away if it is not great for the matchup you are playing. Thanks to this option, you will likely be finding yourself able to play Amara, Warden of Hope more often than you would think. Bear in mind as well, the card text states “Summon” a Deathrattle minion, which means Deathrattle cards put on the board via special means (Think N’Zoth, he is coming back with this set for sure!) count for the quest. With all this in mind, this could be the card to replace the beloved Reno Jackson, albeit a bit slower and with less restrictions. Really, we must play with this card before we can evaluate it properly, but expect to see it around regardless.

Finally, after the sets official announcement a new neutral minion, the Gentle Megasaur, was revealed. Like the Verdant Longeck, this Dino is a Beast and is 5/4 in stats but only costs 4 mana, a much better cost for this stat line. But its effect is what makes it worth looking at; when this card is played, all Murlocs you control get to have an Adapt buff put on them. Now, my personal love of Murlocs aside, I’m not overstating it when I say this is super good. If played on curve in a Murloc deck, this card could single handedly win you the early game and even the entire game. Decks that utilise the new Finja engine with Bluegill Warrior and Murloc Warleader could viably use this to generate even more advantage. Furthermore, the menagerie decks which, like Beast Druid, have always danced around being competitive now have a new card for the toolbox as well thanks to the Beast tag AND synergy with Murlocs. This card is great and while not perhaps meta defining, will see play. Expect this card to go up in rankings if decent Murloc cards are revealed for this set later down the line!