The reveal season for Mean Streets of Gadgetzan is in full swing, with 132 cards set to be revealed in Hearthstone's next expansion. With 132 cards to review -- 131 after our Grimestreet Pawnbroker card reveal -- we better skip the exposition and get moving with the second big chunk.
Don't laugh about the Counterfeit Coin, it's a legit option even without an effect. Not as good as Druid's Innervate, it does fit well into Rogue decks. Rogue has a number of Combo cards, all which this activates and in Miracle builds, helps cycle your deck with an extra mana, that one extra mana sometimes being crucial in a big Gadgetzan Auctioneer turn.
Lotus Assassin is fine as a five-mana 5/5 in that it starts with Stealth and any things it kills that it survives gives it another Stealth, meaning that either the enemy uses some kind of area-of-effect spell to get rid of it or you get to determine the trades. There's no place for this card in Miracle, but it could see a niche role in a Burglary-type deck that uses more minions. Probably the best place for this card will be in Arena, where Stranglethorn Tiger, a 5/5 with Stealth that doesn't have a chance to get its Stealth back, sees play.
Shaku, the Collector, if played at all, will see play if the card-stealing versions of Rogue are strong enough to see competitive play. The Stealth effect is key here because a 2/3 for three mana can be easily removed, which Hobgoblin decks never became a competitive thing (a three mana 2/3 that did not have Stealth).
Priest isn't the only lower-tier class to get some help in Gadgetzan, Paladin's suffered as well, with the N'Zoth Paladins getting pushed out the tournament meta, which only the occasional Anyfin Paladin keeping Uther in tournament play.
We start off with a reasonable secret in Getaway Kodo. Unlike some of the weaker Paladin cards, this one can see significant play outside of a Secret Paladin build. Mage's Duplicate essentially did the same thing for three mana (but two minions) and Getaway Kodo can be used similarly here. In fact, it's probably better outside of the Secrets builds since playing it is better with one huge minion while the more Secret-heavy build relies on having a large board that makes trades awkward. And you want to be sending something like Sylvanas Windrunner or Ragnaros back to your hand, not the 2/1 Defender you get from Noble Sacrifice.
Meanstreet Marshal, Grimestreet Outfitter, and Grimestreet Enforcer all enable minion-heavy builds in which Paladin rapidly draws low-mana cards, buffs them, and floods the board. Meanstreet Marshal is a Loot Hoarder with a condition but a discount and if you're playing the other two cards, you'll likely have buffed this card by at least one attack. In Arena, don't expect to see the Marshal.
The Grimestreet Outfitter is a bit like a bargain basement version of The Mistcaller in Shaman decks. It empowers your hand early for a tempo loss, but at least it does it early enough in the game that the bonus and hand size may be worth it. The Enforcer might as well be a 4/4 with Taunt, simply because removing it will be priority if the player dropping this has a hand - think of it as an Emperor Thaurissan for aggressive decks.
Small-Time Recruits is a straightforward card to go along with this Aggro Paladin theme. Paladin doesn't have a ton of natural card draw without conditions, there's no Warlock hero power or two-mana Wrath. If you're playing this kind of deck, this card helps refill your hand. If you don't, the card really doesn't do anything.
Wickerflame Burnbristle is my favorite of the Paladin cards released and may see play in different deck archetypes. Shielded Minibot was a terrific Paladin card, a two mana 2/2 with Divine Shield. For one mana more, you get a Taunt and the ability to restore health as well, probably four points unless your opponent burns removal. Aggro decks could ignore Shielded Minibot, they actually have to remove this card.
Not a lot of Mage so far -- the class isn't hurting -- and here were have a card in Manic Soulcaster that makes sense for a more Grinder-style of Control Mage that seeks to slowly crush the opponent and win sometime near or during fatigue. A three-mana 3/4 is always playable even if you can't take advantage of it -- Fjola Lightbane and Eydis Darkbane never became key cards in constructed, but there were never cards that you hated to run have. The ability to add an extra Sylvanas Windrunner or Ragnaros or Archmage Antonidas to your deck can have value to this type of Mage. Freeze Mage lists are too tight to take much advantage of this card.
In Shaky Zipgunner and Trogg Beastrager, we get two cards that enable a minion-type Midrange Hunter over the Secret-heavy style we've been seeing since Karazhan. Both are reasonably statted cards with decent, but not overpowering effects that will probably see more play in Arena rather than a more refined tournament deck.
I love the concept of Piranha Launcher, both for the art/concept -- who wouldn't like to have a gun that shoots piranhas? -- and the novel effect it has. Problem being is that it's too slow to fit into any current Hunter deck, it begs for a Control Hunter deck, but the cards just aren't there for that.
We start things off with the simple Mark of the Lotus, a one-mana spell giving all your minions +1/+1. Essentially, take Power of the Wild, make it one mana cheaper, but in return, remove the opportunity to summon a 3/2 Panther. It's a good buff card -- as is Power of the Wild -- but it's a real cost given that sometimes you just want the 3/2 Panther. Frequently you'll draw this card without a good board state for the buff. I can see decks that play two Powers of the Wild replacing one of them, but I can't see this card supplanting it entirely.
Pilfered Power looks very powerful on its face, but the three mana cost is significant, which keeps it from being as good as it looks at first glance. Decks that run a lot of smaller minions, necessary to get the most value from this card, likely don't have enough large minions to really take advantage of the extra mana. And decks that would like this effect the best, if they have a large board, they've probably already won.
Lunar Visions gives a significant mana discount, a very powerful thing to have in a card game, but you also have to build a very specific type-of-deck to make this preferable to Nourish, one that is extremely minion heavy. And that's hard to do in Druid, because Wild Growth, Innervate, Wrath, and Swipe are must-haves and you could easily put in another 6-8 desirable spells in your deck, even in a Beast build. If you don't have high odds of drawing two minions, Nourish is preferable.
Hey, a free 7/7! Kun the Forgotten King has a nice upside, a free 7/7 on Turn 10, but there's a serious cost as you cannot play this card at all until 10. It's not like one of the Giants that you can feasibly reduce the baseline cost, but a card that has to stick in your hand until you have ten mana. And the longer this card is in your hand, the fewer options you have in your hand to make sure you survive that long. An interesting card that might see play -- maybe we'll finally get a true Aviana Ramp Druid -- but this could very easily be one of the more overrated cards in the set.
31 down, 131 to go!
This article is part of a series analyzing the cards in the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Hearthstone expansion. For more, see part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 and part 7.