Curse of Naxxramas - Hearthstone's 1st Adventure Mode

Finally, the first adventure mode for Blizzard's successful digital card game, Hearthstone, has been unveiled. Curse of Naxxramas, was announced at PAX East and will be introducing thirty, yes, THIRTY new cards along with a new game board (though this is probably only for adventure mode) and exciting class challenges. Each week starting its release, one wing will be introduced, for a total of five. According to the announcement, only the first wing will be free of charge, while the remaining four can be acquired either by paying with the in-game gold or real money.

Moreover, they included five of the thirty new cards, with the Deathrattle ability getting the biggest boost:

Dancing Swords is actually the first card that was previewed, though only there was no text or power/toughness included. However, some have already guessed that it was indeed Dancing Swords, though some of us hoped for a weapon that was also a minion of some sort. Moreover, this new card would definitely win in the vanilla test, though the question posed is whether a 4/4 for 3 is worth the opponent's card advantage through the Deathrattle ability. Personally, I think that aggressive decks would be willing and happy to include two of these in their decks, since they want heavy-hitters as early as possible, and they probably couldn't care less about the drawback because, as in the case of Face Hunter decks, they just want to deal damage as early and as much as possible.

Undertaker might just as well replace Argent Squire in some decks, particularly those of the Rogue class. What's great about it is that it gets stronger the moment you summon a minion with Deathrattle, in contrast to other cards whose abilities only activate when a minion dies. This card of course reminds me with Unbound Elemental, as that Shaman card also only requires you to play a minion with a certain ability. Will we see the Undertaker in serious play? Definitely, but not always.









Nerubian Egg screams "awesome!", but on the other hand, it does not seem overpowered. Yes, a 0/2 for 2 that summons a 4/4 when it dies might be scary to handle, it does not have Taunt. However, decks like Watcher Druid might find this a good addition to Ancient Watcher, Sunfury Protector, and Defender of Argus. It basically stalls your opponent's minions for a while, and it also a great counter to mass removal spells such as Hellfire and Flamestrike from Warlocks and Mages, respectively, to their dismay. Additionally, it can even be used against aggro decks as this guy can simply get itself killed and suddenly get the 4/4 out and kill any early attackers. However, an obvious weakness with this one is when Ironbeak Owl or Spellbreaker enters the scene. In contrast, Ancient Watcher actually benefits from those.




Shade of Naxxramas is the first new epic card spoiled from Curse of Naxxramas, being a 2/2 for three mana. While Nerubian Egg is weak against Ironbeak Owl and Spellbreaker, the Shade can't be targetted at all until it attacks, mostly thanks to its Stealth ability. This allows for Shadey to power-up after a couple of turns, and just combine it with buffs such as Blessing of Kings. Moreover, you'd think itw would be easy to get rid of, but aside from the Stealth ability, it also gets +1 health so once it loses Stealth, it would still be hard to get rid of. You can't Polymorph or Hex it until it attacks, and it would be a big one once it does, probably big enough that a Fireball won't stop it.

Finally, we have Baron Rivendare that basically makes a Deathrattle deck all too happy. While it won't be a good thing to have the Baron alongside Dancing Swords in play, it makes Leper Gnome and the new Nerubian Egg twice as deadly, making the opponent lose four life points instead of two and creating two 4/4s instead of one, respectively. Do you want to get both Ragnaros and Ysera from your opponent, given that they are the only two minions left on his/her side? Cast the Baron together with Sylvanas Windrunner, kill your own Sylvanas through Shadow Word: Death if you're a Priest and say hello to the annexation of Ragnaros and Ysera. Additionally, make it hell for your opponent with Cairne Bloodhoof producing two 4/5s once it gets killed.




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