[Arena Impact] 10 New basic/classic cards

So with new cards being introduced in the basic and classic set, lets discuss their impact on arena. Most of them seem at least playable, some of them quite strong. The fact that they will be in arena every rotation, since they are part of the core sets, is important as well.

Let me share my first thoughts after seeing these beauties :)

Rating (1=excellent, 2=good, 3=average, 4=poor, 5=terrible)

Plaguebringer (1): Plague Scientist was a pretty ok arena card, but never an exceptional one due to the combo activation. This will be much better, since it is a battlecry. Stats r not that bad considering the effect, but you will have to be at least on board to take advantage of it. It will definitely be a heavy snowball card, that is for sure.

Radiance (5): Priest got the shortest of sticks here. I dont think anything can save this card in arena, i would probably rather have Purify than this and Purify was removed from the drafting pool back in a day for how bad it was. Just no :D

Siegebreaker (1): This card will be pretty strong in warlock. It is not the best 7 mana taunt we've ever seen, but the demon tag and the potential Raid Leader ability for demons might more than make up for that. In general, warlock does not have consistent access to strong taunts and this is a good one. And the potential demon synergy that will always be there, since Classic set is a core set and does not rotate, needs to be kept in mind.

Gift of the Wild (1): This card will be Silver Sword level broken, mark my words. Yes, it is coslty AF and you probably dont want more than 1 (max 2) copies of it in your deck, but you want it in your deck. Everyfin is Awesome was being played for 7 mana back in a day and it was a powerful buff card. Druid with its swarmy style, where you want to be wide on the board most of the time, will love this card. Not only can it act as a finisher (expensive Savage Roar), but more importantly, it can be used pro-actively, buffing your minions out of AOE range or help them trade up, survive the trade and/or push some more face damage all in the same turn depending on how you need to distribute your attacks. This card will make an impact.

Righteousness (3): We knew this card was coming sooner or later, it was just logical. I personally was curious what cost would it end up having and i think 5 mana is fair overall. It might be hard(er) to get decent value out of it in arena, but it can be a powerful win more card. Free trades into enemy minions or a pro-active protection from aoes? Even if (when) it lands on small minions, it will be SO annoying to get rid of them, cause you will have to spend more resources than you would like to, leaving minions up for paladin is always asking for trouble.

Brightwing (2): Decent value generator. It is no Messenger Raven, but close enough.

High Inquisitor Whitemane (1): Another super powerful win more card. You kinda need to be on board to get full advantage of it and you need to be able to trade the minions off, which is not what you usually want to do, but you can get an insane swing turn with this, literally Kel'Thuzad for 1 less mana that will trigger once. Often times might just win you the game on the spot. The base stats are actually good enough to play this card naked, so literally any minion you get from the battlecry makes this insanely powerful.

Barrens Stablehand (3): Little bit too RNG for my taste, but looks like an ok card on average. I can already see the trollden King Krush lethals from nowhere.

SI:7 Infiltrator (3): Very good card. Nothing amazing, but very nice card to have in the mix. Decent stats and nice ability to squash those secret lovers.

Arcane Devourer (5): I dont think we will see this card very often in arena. Maybe when you get it via random effect and you are so far ahead (or so far behind) that you will eventually play this. But 8 mana is just damn too high to combo it with anything on the turn you play it, not to mention that spells are kinda sparse in arena overall.

So, there you have it! Obviously a big portion of power level of each card will also depend on the power bucket placement, if they are placed properly, you might not see many of them too often, cause other as powerul (or more) and/or more versatile cards might be picked over them, but most of the new cards seem to have a strong potential in arena. Only time will tell :)

What are your thoughts on new cards?

Quote From AliRadicali

I expect most of these to be pretty underwhelming, even in Arena. Of the lot I'd say the SI:7 is the best card, just a solid 5/4 for 4 with potential upside, runner up is the Siegebreaker. Th other minions are understatted and/or situational. Sure, if you see a Whitemane it's probably going to be the best pick in the bucket but it's no Lich King; if you want good value from it you need a board that you can trade into enemy minions. That brings me to Righteousness and Gift of the Wild, both of which are win-more cards. I expect them to have a low win rate and a disproportionately high played win rate, because if you do manage to land either one that's game over.

Yeah, kinda my point. Those cards are certainly win more cards, one could almost say win now cards and you do want some cards like these in your deck. Hell, Savage Roar or Bloodlust are such cards and you pick them regularly and win games off them. I am a bit sceptical about Righteousness still, but Gift of the WIld i think will be a dark horse. Def agree with SI:7 being a great card on its own. Will see it a lot for sure, just due to its statline being an ok 4-drop with an upside.

Quote From Zashiki

I don't agree on your assessment of Siegebreaker and Gift of the Wild, but other than that I have the same impression of the new classic cards as you. Siegebreaker is comparable to a Violet Warden or Bog Creeper, so probably somewhere between a 2-3?

Gift of the Wild is nowhere near Silver Sword in power level, as you can invest the mana upfront and then build up your board with SS in the following turns. With GotW you'll need a board and at least three minions to be worth the high cost, so it's clearly a win more card. Why would I pick this when I can close out games much cheaper with Blessing of the Ancients or Savage Roar? Honestly I wouldn't even give this a 3 rating.

I wont disagree, i might had been a little too hyped right after seeing them haha. I definitely did have Bog Creeper and Furious Ettin in mind when evaluating Siegebreaker, so i looked at it as a taunt on similar power level with additional synergies. Probably is "just" a 2.

Gift of the Wild same thing, probably should have said "close to Silver Sword power level" rather than same. Yeah, it can totally tank in the end, but it is another finisher for a druid, which is a nice thing. You dont always get an option to draft Savage Roar either. Again, not disagreeing with you on this one per se, but im a bit more optimistic about the card than you :) Even tho i would not mind at all, if i was wrong lol.