Card reveals for the newest Hearthstone set, Descent of Dragons, begin again in less than a week. In the intervening time, we here at Out of Cards decided to band together and give you some 100% accurate, definitively correct analysis of the cards revealed thus far. We asked several of our contributors for thoughts on the 36 cards we've seen; in this first part, we'll be taking a look at the neutrals.

Sathrovarr Card Image

The one time a fantasy name isn't 'aa'.

Quote From ShadowsOfSense

Sathrovarr is a very interesting card, made all the more so because we've actually seen it in play already, thanks to it being the Blizzcon card this year. When I first saw it I passed it off as a cute, but ultimately gimmicky card; you'd see some cool highlights of it helping to summon The Ancient One or doubling up on Ragnaros the Firelord shots for lethal, and that's it. In actuality, the versatility of the card is pretty remarkable.

It's a great choice of free card to give to players, because it can help them win the game then and there, unlike something like Marin the Fox; while incredibly fun, he's a much more delayed card.

Sathrovarr isn't anything we haven't seen before - Rogues can shuffle copies, we have Faceless Manipulator and its ilk for copying cards on the field, and Zola the Gorgon to add them to your hand. But being able to do all three at once, even if it's expensive, is really fun. I don't think it's broken, but it's good, and I expect to see combos ranging from playable to ridiculous once the full set releases.

Twin Tyrant Card Image

One's actually a year older than the other, it's a common mistake.

Quote From FearGralex

An odd note I want to make about this card is that I love the artwork. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but the scales and spikes have great texture that makes this guy seems somewhat cute even while he's burninating the countryside.

As for the card itself, it's no surprise to anyone that this card is quite strong in Arena. Killing 2 creatures while dropping a body worth about 6-7 mana is a fantastic deal for 8 mana. It's so good, in fact, that I could see this impacting Constructed games- a couple classes like Hunter and Druid may want it, and this card will also likely be Discovered a lot by the Explorer cycle and Draconic Lackey. Some games it may not have much impact, but when it hits well, it's a massive swing.

Evasive Drakonid Card Image

Maybe he's a Drakonid, maybe he isn't. Who's asking?

Quote From FearGralex

Poor Soggoth the Slitherer :( Powercreep is unfortunately going to be a part of any card game. I definitely think this card is solid, although how well it fits in the current meta remains to be seen. My first guess is that this card is good enough to see play in specific Dragon decks that want a 7-drop (Druid perhaps? It curves right after Emerald Explorer), but will otherwise be relegated to showing up in Discovers. We can also include the obligatory "Great in Arena" comment. While this guy and Twin Tyrant might be fringe options for Constructed (too early to tell for sure), they play a big part in making the Explorer cycle playable. I am quite confident that the Explorer dragons will see quite a lot of Standard play, partially because you have these solid options just waiting to be Discovered.

Shield of Galakrond Card Image

Has better exclusives than Sword of Galakrond.

Quote From Demonxz95

Shield of Galakrond strikes me as the strongest and most flexible of all of our Galakrond Invokers so far, mainly because it has Taunt and doesn’t lose as much stats compared to other Galakrond Invokers. To properly evaluate all of the Galakrond Invokers, you’ve got to look at what all of the class’s Invoke abilities do individually. We don’t know Shaman or Warrior’s yet, but we know what Rogue, Priest and Warlock do. To evaluate it in Rogue for example, ask yourself the following question: Would you play a 5 mana 4/5 Taunt that adds a random Lackey to your hand? Considering that EVIL Cable Rat is a 2 mana 1/1 with that ability that actually sees some amount of play, Shield of Galakrond actually seems pretty good in that regard. It’s actually slightly better than that too because it gets Galakrond himself closer to his maximum power. Just repeat the following question for the other class's.

The best part about the card though is that no matter what Galakrond build you make, Shield of Galakrond can fit decently well into quite literally any of them. If you’re building a Galakrond deck, then this is always an option you can consider. Whether or not this sees play is entirely dependent on Galakrond. If Galakrond doesn't see play, then this won't, but if it does, then this will see play as well.

Devoted Maniac Card Image

She's just really into Theros.

Quote From ShadowsOfSense

This is… a weak card, I think. Given some of the other Galakrond activators we've seen, this hard-working hag is probably going to fall short of making it into all but the most 'oops all Invoke' of lists.

My immediate comparison was to Warlock's Imp-losion, as strange as that may sound. At just a 2/2 body, this rarely sticks around longer than a turn, making it effectively a 4 mana spell which deals 2 damage and (in the case of Warlock) summons two 1/1 Imps; in other words, a low-rolled Imp-losion.

Now, that's not necessarily bad - and perhaps, even, in a class like Priest which can struggle to find effective damaging cards, this could see some play. Overall though, I expect it to fall behind the other Invoke cards, should Galakrond decks actually be strong enough to have an impact.