We continue our review of the Hearthstone cards from Mean Streets of Gadgetzan with new cards from the Grimy Goons and the Jade Lotus, the names given for the factions that utilize the tri-class cards debuting in this expansion set. Several Mage and Warlock cards have been revealed since our last installment, so we now have a better picture of what these classes will look like after the card set drops next month.
We start out with three cards that go along with the Grimy Goons mechanic of buffing in-hand minions in order to make less linear styles of gameplay more practical, something that's necessary to keep games of Hearthstone from being tempo fights.
The initial comparison of Grimy Gadgeteer may be the Screwjank Clunker from Goblins vs. Gnomes, a four-mana 2/5 that had a Battlecry of giving a friendly Mech +2/+2. But this card is better. Screwjank Clunker, while providing reach, required you to have something on board while the Gadgeteer only requires you to have something in your hand, a much easier condition to fulfill. So from the start, you're likely to get 6/5 worth of stats for your four mana and the card has quasi-Taunt, in that the effect triggers at the end of every turn, meaning this card must be removed quickly. Even without constructed buff decks, Arena is minion-based enough that this will see play.
Brass Knuckles on the other hand, I'm not so sure about. Getting the +1/+1 random buff has value, but it's such a slow weapon and there's a danger in having too many weapons in Warrior. You're obviously not cutting Fiery War Axe and I'd prefer Fool's Bane to this (you have to survive to get to your slow buffed cards after all). Is there room for yet another weapon, one that isn't directly dangerous to the board? I don't think there is.
The 5/6 stat line for seven mana of Don Han'Cho is underwhelming on its face and demands sexy card text. And while the effect isn't too wacky or unusual, it's strong enough to make the card at least interesting in slower buff decks. Five-mana 5/6 cards are playable and a two-mana spell with that effect would be also; additionally, having a two-card combo in one card -- at least when the two things aren't that odd -- is quite valuable. I don't think this will be a must-include, but there are ways to exploit an effect this stat-heavy. This is a tri-class card (Hunter/Paladin/Warrior) and while this is probably too slow for the Hunter's kit, Paladin and Warrior have the tools to survive into late game.
The Kabal Chemist represents pseudo card draw, something that can be quite powerful even without it being a Discover card. This card draws a random Potion, a much more powerful group of cards than the spare parts that many Goblins vs. Gnomes cards added to your hand. There have been seven Potions released, consisting of three AOE potions, a minion buff potion, an enemy minion-weakening potion, a Secret, and the mini-Shadow Madness one. Most of these potions have some utility to a Priest, Warlock, or Mage, the three classes that can play this card. Discovering a Potion would be even more powerful, but then you'd probably need a weaker minion than 3/3 for four mana to compensate.
Two of the potions, for Mage, are the Volcanic Potion and the Potion of Polymorph.
The effect of the Volcanic Potion is good enough, but the all minions disclaimer means that Mage decks that do rely on minions can't make much use of this card, so Tempo Mage is probably out. What this card does empower is the more control style of Mage. Not sure if it makes the Freeze Mage cut, but the conditions are there. I think where this card will see the most play is in a Grinder Mage that tries to get to fatigue and win there.
For Potion of Polymorph, you'll need a control-heavy meta for this to see play at all in tournament play. Most midrange and aggro decks will be able to play around this fairly easily, the same way Mirror Image can be played around. Actual Polymorph is only one mana more and you can actually choose when to play it - this card is only obviously better in situations where your opponent is playing a quick-impact card like Grommash Hellscream or Ragnaros. But if this becomes anything more than occasional surprise card, what are the odds your opponent will give you cards like that?
Kabal Lackey's viability requires Secret Mage to be an actual played deck. While it looks good in isolation -- playing a three-mana secret for free is a lot of value -- there's already a card in the Kirin Tor Mage that also does this and that never sees high-level play. Secrets are weak enough that just being able to play a secret in hand for free just isn't enough of an effect, you really need to be able to play all of them, like Cloaked Huntress in Hunter, or be able to draw and play one like Mad Scientist enables for the card to be that great.
While Lackey may see play in Arena formats that encourage you to have a few one-drops, Kabal Crystal Runner really needs a Secret-heavy deck to see play. I don't think this deck will happen, so I expect this card to be one of the least-played from this expansion. Menagerie Warden in Druid has the same stat line, a better effect, and in a deck that is actually viable, and even that card is sometimes just an overcosted 5/5. That will happen more often with this card.
With multiple cards this expansion that activate if you have no duplicates in your deck and Reno Jackson rotating out sometime this spring, we're going to have to find a new name for Reno decks. Cho'gall in Warlock hasn't worked so far because Warlock doesn't have a lot of big spells that you actually want to play. That's not true for Mage, that has Pyroblast, Flamestrike, Blizzard, Firelands Portal, Cabalist's Tome, etc. Reno Mage ... err ... Singleton Mage has been on the edge of playability and I think this could be the tipping point for it, which will enable all sorts of cards like Medivh that aren't seeing a lot of play right now.
For those more familiar with seeing Murloc cards in Paladin and Shaman, Warlock was actually the original Murloc-stacked deck, Warlock's hero power preventing your hand from running dry after you play a bazillion small-mana Murloc cards. Will Seadevil Stinger revive the Murlock archetype? I'm not so sure about that, there aren't high-mana Murlocs apart from Finja, the Flying Star and many of the times you get around to playing this card, you'll be running out of cards, not mana. I think this may be a one-off if we see Murlock come back, but I don't think it's that amazing without a few more large Murloc cards.
It's hard not to wonder if Bloodfury Potion doesn't exist to make Kabal Chemist weaker. The least powerful potion released, even in the best case scenario, three-mana for a +3/+3 buff for a Warlock is decent, not amazing, and there will be many times you can't pull this off. And if you get this as Priest or Mage playing the Kabal Chemist, you might cry.
A much better potion is the Felfire Potion and Control Priests and Mages will absolutely not weep in a corner after drawing this one off Kabal Chemist. Much of the time, you'll be able to clear the board and even if you don't, you ought to be able to weaken it enough to ping off or remove remaining minions using other methods. A good, straightforward spell.
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.