Introduction
The League of Explorers HYPE!!!!
Hi guys, anothersy here. I am Hearthstone Player who has been playing Hearthstone even since Beta. After a few months of grinding the arena, I started to play ranked and playing competitively.
At Blizzcon 2015 Blizzard officially announced a new adventure expansion named as ‘The League of Explorers’ coming today (12 November 2015)!
So I would to guide you through each week’s released wing to give you some of my opinions about the cards as a notice of what you should be expecting on each week/adventure wing
The Cards
Ok, so you’re about to go on for an adventure, so The League of Explorer gives you an invitation to join their adventure and gives you a hat and a torch as a symbol for joining the team.
Explorer’s Hat
Constructed Opinion
- So, a Hunter’s Hat. This card kinda goes opposite what Blizzard has been adding to Hunter, Face Stuff. (core-rager, brave-archer, quick-shot) This card might be viable in Hybrid Hunter or Face Hunter decks, as you would always have some extra mana during the mid to late game scenarios due to how fast your deck runs out of gas. But to find a space for this card to fit in might be challenging as you never want to play a card that does not aid you in developing the board in the early game.
- Another point to point out is this card is probably trash in the early game, as you would prefer to use your hero-power for 2 damage instead of using 2 mana for 1 more point of damage.
Might be viable in: Hybrid Hunter, Face Hunter
Arena?
- This card is super valuable! , unlimited +1/+1 buffs. It’s like you get another thing to spend on other than your hero power
Forgotten Torch
Constructed Opinion
- Deals 3 damage, then add another roaring-torch that costs 3 into your deck. I could very see this card in Tempo Mage, as you might cut your fireballs and simply add this card. If the torch shows up early you get a 3 damage spell and it shuffles a roaring-torch into your deck. Downside might be Tempo Mage uses up its resources very fast and needs a more reliable draw than more damaging spells. Therefore, having too many damage spells might hurt a bit.
- For Control Mage decks such as Freeze mage, this card might be an extra removal/damage spell besides icebolt or even your fireball, then you get an extra substitute for fireball, roaring-torch, a 2 in 1 package.
Might be viable in: Tempo Mage, Grinder Mage, Freeze Mage
Arena?
- 2 in 1 icebolt turn into fireball package. Strong for its value and might be viable.
First Boss: Zinaar
By defeating Zinaar, you will be rewarded with djinni-of-zephyrs and jeweled-scarab and also unlocks the Warrior class challenge that you can battle to get obsidian-destroyer
Djinni of Zephyrs
Constructed Opinion
- King of Buffs, stats are mediocre with a strange ability. I’ve never seen a minion spell buff based deck viable other than Aggro Paladin and this card is too slow for aggro paladin to have him. Maybe in Control Priest you might find this card worthy to run in, as it’s very tough to deal with and you would be happy get double effects from your velens-chosen or even power-word-shield.
- Might be viable in: Control Priest
Arena?
- Strong card, might consider picking him if you’re drafting a class that has several buff spells cards such as paladin or priest other than theses classes he won’t be so bad-ass
Jeweled Scarab
Constructed Opinion
- Cheapest discover neutral card at the moment. I don’t see this card to be viable in any decks, as it is a very weak 2-drop minion it could be easily compared with novice-engineer which we hardly see nowadays.
Might be viable in: Seriously I don’t know where this card will fit in.
Arena?
- Might be decent in arena, as it guarantees you a 3-drop play, but the stats are terrible for tempo.
Second Boss: Sun Raider Phaerix
Defeating Sun Raider Phaerix will award you with anubisath-sentinel and summoning-stone and also The Warlock class challenge which will reward you dark-peddler after completion.
Anubisath Sentinel
Constructed Opinion
- High cost minion with a crazy +3/+3 Deathrattle buff, would probably see no play in constructed as its ability not impactful at all.
Might be viable in: None
Arena?
- Has potential to be a decent in arena in the right circumstances, but the card on its own is pretty bad.
Summoning Stone
Constructed Opinion
- This card reminds me of the Tavern Brawl week where we get free minions when we cast a spell. However, this card’s high cost makes it very unplayable in high level play, even with a strong deck that try’s to back it up. Best case scenario is maybe you play this card and your opponent just carelessly throws millhouse-manastorm to make your day. Another example might be you play this card on an empty board and your opponent can’t deal with it, then you just sabotage him with your arrays of spells and this card then becomes the nightmare of your poor opponent.
Might be viable in: Gimmick Mage?
Arena?
- a 5-drop that does nothing, alarm-o-bot sounds more rewarding. Only Mage sounds rewarding to play this card, as Jaina has several impactful spells.
Final Boss: Temple Escape
By defeating the final boss of the Temple of Orsis wing, you will be rewarded with: rumbling-elemental, sacred-trial, reno-jackson and ancient-shade
Rumbling Elemental
Constructed Opinion
- An upgraded knife-juggler for poor thrall but the minion played must have Battlecry. Maybe a nice 4-drop for Thrall as he’s pretty tough to deal with and you might get a few juggles before he dies, as most Midrange Shaman decks have several decent Battlecry minions to follow him up. (azure-drake, fire-elemental)
Might be viable in: Midrange shaman
Arena?
- Very gimmicky, but his stats make him very difficult to deal with. If you manage to draft several Battlecry cards this guy has potential to be your new MVP of that run.
Sacred Trial
Constructed Opinion
- Blizzard just buffed Secret Paladin by adding another secret. No!!!, I’m just joking, this secret is terribly bad. This secret most likely will never be triggered that’s why it’s so bad. I could see it worthy denying a shredder after a muster for battle play but that’s it. You opponent can easily play around it too. It requires you to be in a bad situation to trigger and that’s why it’s so bad, you would never want to fall behind your opponent and seek an opportunity to come back in the game, you just gotta keep bashing them in, and repentance does a much better job in controlling you opponent’s minions.
Might be viable in: Secret Paladin?
Arena?
- Blizzard just added a friend to eye-for-an-eye, both of these secret will probably see no play in arena and only play by newbie players.
Reno Jackson
Constructed Opinion
- Decent stats, with a crazy deck-tracker user ability. Maybe a big combo play with golden-monkey? Or He might encourage people to play 1-copy-of everything decks to make his heal viable. I’d say he’s not as impactful as the other legendary cards at the same cost (emperor-thaurissan, sylvanas-windrunner or even good old cairne-bloodhoof)
Might be viable in: Golden Monkey Explorers deck
Arena?
- He might guarantee a full health heal, decent body but I’d say try to pick something else, you don’t want your rare legendary pick to only heal you in arena.
Ancient Shade
Constructed Opinion
- This card is like a 4-drop fel-reaver, I could only see him in Aggro Druid for now, as his stats (especially his health) isn’t a stat you would want your 4-drop to have as we all know his 4 health dies easily to anything and you’re gonna take that curse for free.
Might be viable in: Aggro Druid
Arena?
- No way, I’ll never pick this card in arena, his abysmal stats just makes him always die to a decent 4-drop.
Class Challenge Cards
Warrior: Obsidian Destroyer
Constructed Opinion
- The Warrior’s incarnation of hogger, as we all know Warrior always struggle when dealing with several small 1/1 minions, this card might change all of that. But still, this card has high competitors such as dr-boom and baron-geddon. Moreover baron-geddon clears stuff instantly when it lands on the board while our Obsidian Destoyer slowly grinds them with his Scarabs. I don’t think this guy might be so strong in ladder, but he would be a nuisance in some Hogger style deck that your minions always spawn stuff lol.
Might be viable in: Gimmicky Hogger Deck
Arena?
- This card is quite strong in arena a slightly better Golem, and is a class card too. Well, at least Blizzard is doing something right after all the new expansions: Making warrior more playable in arena.
Warlock: Dark Peddler
Constructed Opinion
- Cheapest Discover card goes to Warlock, and this maybe the only discover card that its stats isn’t reduced to be below average. (Most Discover minions have below average stats) Maybe viable in Zoo Warlock decks, as it’s a decent 2-drop that gives you a 1-drop but seems pretty weak against other 2-drops in the deck such as knife-juggler or dire-wolf-alpha. Might see some substitutions when he’s first released to see experiment how strong he is, but I doubt he can overpower knife-juggler in Zoo Warlock.
Might be viable in: Zoo Warlock
Arena?
- Not too strong in arena, but getting a free card is always good. I’d say he’s a decent pick.
Card of the Week
And our winner for this week is….
Forgotten Torch
Most viable card of the week goes to Forgotten Torch as it has potential to become a staple card in some decks winning most of this week’s released cards, I’ve created a theory crafted Tempo Mage based on him for you guys, check it out!
Deck Synopsis
Seems like a simple Tempo Mage, but I’ve added a little twist to it, by adding gadgetzan-auctioneer. I’ve seen TempoStorm Justsaiyan playing this card in his Tempo Mage deck but I don’t know his exact list. So we add more drawing power for us to quickly cycle those forgotten-torches and roaring-torch. Our secrets include duplicate and counterspell so we will play a more late game oriented Tempo Mage. Have fun trying it out!!!
Conclusion
Blizzard has always make the first wing of each expansion not very exciting, but we have some new cards to have fun with for a week, and that’s quite enough for me!. Hope you all enjoy my opinion of the new cards and my Tempo Mage deck, please feel free to discuss about points I may have overlooked or tech choices for the Tempo Mage deck or anything that you may be skeptical of, See you guys next week for the next wing! And may all the RNGJesus be with you all.
