4-Plays

 

So another new set has been Sneaked and full spoilers are cropping up everywhere as players band together to build an internet database for Hunt for Illidan. Some of the new power cards are obvious and have already been examined for their utility and relative meta explosiveness. These cards are generally the big rares and epics of the set, but what about the new allies in the set, the unexamined uncommons and commons. Where do they fit?

 

If you’re trying to find a theme that runs through the ally base in Hunt for Illidan, a good place to start would be with the allies that provide non-activation healing or that have the potential to draw you a bunch of cards if they stay in play. But the set's surprisingly lacking in a new meta defining beast like we've seen the past two sets in this block. The closest thing to a new Myriam, Doshura, Vexmaster or Ras'fari in this set is ole’ Brokentooth McCrazyeye, Brok Bloodcaller, ally killer extraordinaire. That said, he’s still an astonishing four-drop that presents one of this set's new answers to tyrannical, the untargetable reign of Myriam Starcaller.

 

Looking at the sub-factions, Scryer has gotten another lift with this set - perhaps the designer’s are trying to boost it up to equal footing with its opposing faction, Aldor, who thus far have seen a vast majority of the completive play. In the past, Retainer Zian gave Scryer a viable build to be in (along with Magister Ashi) but that was about it.

 

Most everyone saw Battlemage Vyara as the first HFI EA and mulled over the possibilities of the very strong looking card, but has she she backed up with enough lower-cost force to make Scryer viable enough to include without gimping yourself with the loss of the mighty power Inspire? She's certainly a powerful enough play on her own, especially with the slew of rare 7-cost abilities like the From the Past or Circle cycle that the casting classes picked up. At the very least, we know Scryer gave warlocks another Ripped target with Varen the Reclaimer…

 

 

But I think HFI has given Scryer a couple cards that offer it a place in a few different kinds of decks, having a bit more variable utility than its Aldor cousin.

 

Rogues been given a big lift in this set and while I imagine you’ll see solo rogue fade away from the main tables, other tempo and control rogues will rise to take its place. Historian Firana, for example, is a perfect fit into Dralor discard, because now your cards that aren’t Purloin (and there’s a few of them) can’t miss. She’s a 3/3 for three, which is solid enough, but she has Stealth as well, which is an often underutilized keyword in protector heavy metas.

 

Retainer Kai is one of my favorite new Scryer cards. When she or another Scryer ally enters play in your party, opposing heroes and allies can’t protect this turn. While I wish there was a Scryer mage who could willfully remove himself from play for a turn, Kai presents another solid answer to Myriam Starcaller for decks that run a few other Scryer allies in their curve. Kai can completely negate the control lock that Xanata, Antikron or the new Defender Nagalaas can have on the board. At 4/4 for four, she can kill Myriam and live to see another combat afterwards.

 

 

After spending quite a bit of time, though, looking at the new allies as a whole, here are the ones I think you’ll definitely cropping up in competitive, Constructed play.

 

Sexy Singles

 

Ra'waza Stonetusk looks strong enough to let a Horde stall deck abandon Aldor to give the Scryer cards a try. Whereas many decks now certainly pack the requisite 3-damage burn to take care of a pesky Xanata, Ra'waza's impressive five-health and free full heal power make him a much sturdier protector. His zero attack is hardly a drawback, if stalling is your point, as Xanata rarely traded with an opposing ally anyway, and you know I think she saw play a bit…

 

UDE must like Ripped Through the Portal. Enough to design cards that make it viable for Alliance and Obliveron in HFI. Bimble Blackout is a cool way to ramp up the draw engine in blue or demon Ripped if you’re unable to run cards like Haunted Mills (which you are). If you play Ripped with Illusionary Rod, you can remove your hand with Bimble in it every turn to draw another card, which is solid, especially when you’re trying to find the combo pieces you need to discard, remove and Rip.

 

If the I-Rod’s not your thing, throw him into the discard pile with your big drops after you complete whichever Donation is your poison and Battle of Darrowshire him away to draw double for the price of one. He’s also a powerful like 3-drop, if a bit fragile, for any other warlock, especially if you plan on running Invoke the Nether to deal with Starcaller or rush decks.

 

 

In these post-Vexmaster days, a lot of decks have turned to running 3/2 two-drops with solid powers in order to at least trade with the powerful Nar’jo when he comes into play. I like Instructor Giralo for this reason. The immediate play that comes to mind is Inspiring a normally aggressive-only Bloodsoul into a 3/2 killing protector at the start of your opponent’s turn. Nice.

 

At the very least, Giralo is another 2-cost inspire ally card that could replace Vindicator Kaldel. With three health instead of two and a more powerful inspire ability, that might not be a bad idea.

 

Dawn Rivensdale is going to be a good two or three of in a lot of Horde decks – loyal and traitor. Horde Heroes with powerful, tempo swinging flips like Lionar, Bulkas, Omedus or the new Horde Fire mage Phosphus get second tries at dealing big damage or destroying one of your expensive allies for cheap. You may just see Omedus rush decks again because if you let your hand empty Omedus can flip and burn you for it twice and I don’t think most decks can deal with ten-fourteen damage and try and stave off a solid rush – the latter task only sets you up for the former.

 

 

High Instructor Campbell I really like and he's been fairly under the radar so far. At four cost, he's merely an adequate 3/3 ally but his come into play power allows you to retrieve a Talent card from your graveyard into your hand. Talent card usually means ability. It's specific (moreso than the in some ways comparable Whitemane's Chapeau), but his power is nothing to scoff at.

 

Played once, powerful cards like Shadowfury, Blast Wave, Silencing Shot, Holy Shock and Forces of Nature can be retrieved to wreak havoc on the board once again. You can only draw any given 4-of card so often. Campbell insures that you'll get double use out of the powerful Talent cards that your deck is packing, and I think he'll see play for that reason.

 

Vindicator Javlo is the one card I'm not 100% sure that we'll see, but with the amount of viable Inspire (allies and the new Aldor ring) going around, he's a five cost draw engine with powerful stats. At 4/5 he won't die to Rasfari and can kill Myriam (two important checkpoints for an ally) and with his power will almost invariably beat least a 2-for-1 (assuming you've only got one Inspire: Ally power out and you're opponent ices him on the next turn with a spot removal).

 

Plus he looks pretty cool riding that bird, eh?

 

 

Lord Cindervein has a very abusable power in allowing you to return abilities to their owner's hand at the end of your turn. Druids can recur Cyclone or Typhoon before the counters run out as can mage with Brain Lock and priest can bounce Shadow Word: Pain around if they'd like getting the 1-damage dot every turn along with making the controlling player discard every time it's placed back down. Form players can even rebound Shred, Claw or Swipe at the end of their turns to keep the damage output on with abilities or to be able to Cyclone opposing characters on the opponent's turn without sending valuable forms to the graveyard.

 

The Big and the Nasty

 

Man, what is it with my section headings today. They’re all making me feel vaguely uncomfortable after I write them…

 

Anyway, let’s finally go back and look at the big drops.

 

HFI is overloaded with rare and epic big, beefy allies. Some of them, like Azaloth, have players scrambling to unsleeve that Plague Demonsoul deck and resleeve Ripped Through the Portal in blue. He's not the only compelling new Ripped target, however. There's the Doomwalker, who provides Alliance Ripped with a better Lok'holar, and epic naaru Xi'ri if demon hero decks even show a hint of being popular. Not that we should forget that Obliveron is waiting in the wings to show off his version of Ripped as well.

 

But I'd go as far to say that the HFI meta is going to end up being a battleground of the mighty end-game allies. There is now no longer one but three resurrection style cards that do not require you to have resources equal to the casting cost of the targeted ally to put it into play. Along with Ripped, there's now Full Circle and Vicious Circle.

 

The new epic Scryer is a rather disappointing janky win-more card (with marginal viable as a turn 5 Rip, saying basically draw an answer for me or concede), but the new Aldor epic shows a bit more promise, being basically a Smite and Greater Heal on a stick.

 

Edward the Odd can be a real sideboard-surprise thrown into the plans of a mage control deck and Akama will be a true powerhouse in any environment that goes too heavy on Traitor.

 

So there are a lot of new big drops, you say? So what? Are they as good as Ishanah or the Greench?

 

No other epic allies affect the game the way that those two cards do. Nothing else demands to be answered immediately or the other players wins. And if UDE printed anything more powerful than Greeshanah, it'd probably break the game.

 

But what if they were hated out? That would leave a high-cost ally vacuum for the less used allies that are less potentially damning if your plans go awry. What if there were decks that made those allies too dangerous or too inconsistent to play?

 

Horde Priest might be able to do that. Mindflip gives them the edge with a very, very cheap way to take control of an ally whose mere board presence can win games. Then there's Terokk's Shadowstaff, a five cost gain control of an ally in target opponent's party, which not only priests but warlocks and mages can use too.

 

Then there's an epic ally drop with the power to render opposing Ishanahs and Greenchs into mere flies to be swatted away. Really, Mindflip alone is enough to threaten to hate Ishanah and Greench out of the meta as will be further elaborated below, but it’s worth while to go through one of the other options.

 

 

Blood Guard Gulmok. His power is plainly obvious. With Gulmok out any Horde ally you play is also a free Vanquish.

 

But he still loses to Ishanah, you might say, because unless you're playing him after turn 9, he has to be out for a turn before you can make good use of his power. By that time, Ishanah will have simply taken him away.

 

In this scenario then you're playing him from the graveyard. Resurrection does nicely for the priest class allowing a five-resource allowance to play that other Horde ally in your hand that'll put Ish or Greench into the opposing graveyard. Three other classes (Shaman, Druid and Paladin) can employ the same strategy.

 

Certainly, Gulmok is a less powerful play against a control deck that is packing its own recursion. But that's why the priest class's new abilities are so powerful. If you Mindflip their Ishanah you'll just get your own ally back at the end of their turn anyway. Mindflip their Greench and you've shut down their draw. For three resources! That’s insane.

Tags: Warcraft Hunt For Illidan