Our Thoughts on Onyxia's Lair's New Shaman, Warlock, Warrior & Neutral Cards Coming to Hearthstone

Onyxia's Lair, Fractured in Alterac Valley's mini set, is going be live very soon, and we're just done with one of the tightest reveal season ever!

Now that we're able to have a look at all the cards, we can see that this mini set has some recurring themes shared by multiple classes:

• Dragons - After more than two years since Descent of Dragons went live, we're receiving another Dragon-focused card release.
  
  • Black Dragon Callbacks - A four-card cycle featuring the most (in)famous Black Dragons in Hearthstone.
• Callback Cards - Onyxia's Lair's Mini-Set features cards with mechanics belonging to Forged in the Barrens and United in Stormwind.

Now, remember that, as usual, Onyxia's Lair will be purchasable with 2000 Gold or cash ($14.99 for the whole thing). This time around there's an additional bundle for our whale readers out there: in fact, for the moderate sum of $69.99 you'll be able to purchase the entire mini-set in Golden cards!

Quote From Blizzard

Things are heating back up after the cold of Alterac Valley! Enter Onyxia’s Lair in the Fractured in Alterac Valley Mini-Set, coming February 15! After a year of growth, our heroes are max level and ready to raid with these 35 new cards. Get them in Fractured in Alterac Valley packs, or get the entire 66-card Mini-Set* for $14.99 or 2000 Gold. For the first time ever, we are also offering the option to buy an all-Golden set of all 66 Mini-Set cards for $69.99!

Now let's see what we can expect from the Demon Hunter, Druid and Hunter cards that Onyxia's Lair will bring to the game. Have a good read!

In case you missed it, a few days ago we published our Fractured in Alterac Valley mini-set prediction article - how well do you think we did?

Moreover, here are our other review articles for Onyxia's Lair:

• Standard Review of the Onyxia's Lair's New Demon Hunter, Druid & Hunter Cards.
• Standard Review of the Onyxia's Lair's New Mage, Paladin, Priest & Rogue Cards.

Looking for Wild reviews of the mini-set? No worries, our Swizard has you covered!

• Wild Review of Onyxia’s Lair's New Demon Hunter, Druid, & Hunter Cards.

Shaman

As revealed a couple days ago by Hearthstone Game Designer Cora "Songbird" Georgiou, Bracing Cold was initially meant to reduce the cost of all the spells in your hand by 1, but they eventually toned down this design in order to avoid other mass mana cheating problems like Runed Mithril Rod and Incanter's Flow (both nerfed twice).

While we're glad that Team 5 took this decision, it is also true that now the card looks a bit less appetizing, but still pretty damn good. Right now, Bracing Cold can be compared as a Radiance with a Preparation attached to it, meaning that you'll regain the mana you spent later in the game - it's basically a 0 mana heal 5, which is not bad at all.

We see Bracing Cold being considered in slower strategies like the Bolner OTK or any other form of Control Shaman that will surface in the future. Good stuff.

This is a one-sided Volcano for board-based decks, which deals 5 less damage but saves you minions from friendly fire.

Moreover, Don't Stand in the Fire! has Overload, so Command the Elements Questline Shaman may want to consider it and, given the Fire Spell School, it also increases Multicaster's consistency, since you won't need to rely on drawing Perpetual Flame. Another quite good card for Shaman.

Sticky Spell Damage source that may give Burn Shaman another way to increase the lethality of its Lightning Bolts and Serpentshrine Portals. However, why would you play this over Novice Zapper? This minion is arguably better than Spirit Mount under any circumstances and, if Shaman were to choose between just one of them, we don't see players picking the latter.

Time (and especially rotation) will tell, but for now we're not too hot on this one.

Warlock

Remember Felwalker? Now we finally have something to play along with it. If board decks are going to cover big role in the upcoming meta, then Impfestation will act as a pretty solid board stabilizer against token decks, but at the same time it won't pair that well against larger minions.

We're very curious to see if and how Fel Warlock will appear in the upcoming meta, maybe with a Zoo package. Impfestation may not be enough, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Let's start with saying that Curse of Agony is quite the interesting card: we've never seen fatigue mechanic being introduced ahead of actual fatigue, but it makes sense for Team 5 to print this spell right now, given Warlock's current situation.

We see Curse of Agony in mainly two types of decks:

• Zoo Warlock as a finisher.
• Meta tech against OTK archetypes or lists that want to draw their entire deck.

Worth noting is that Tamsin Roame does have synergy with Curse of Agony, and will shuffle even more Agony spells into your opponent's deck. It kind of reminds us of Garrote, but we really hope it won't go down the same path.

A really flavorful card: for half the mana cost, you get half the stats of Deathwing and a fraction of its Battlecry. However, we think this card's pros end here: Warlock is currently very short on Discard synergy, and Nightshade Matron is a cheaper and more reliable way to discard Hand of Gul'dan; moreover, the Discard effect isn't targeted like with the aforementioned Matron or Wicked Whispers, so you may end up stepping on your own foot.

Support needs to come for Spawn of Deathwing to leave its place in your collection and see play, as Warlock has immensely better removal.

Warrior

With Animated Broomstick rotating, giving minions Rush will be much more difficult, and Shoulder Check partially solves this problem. Moreover, +2/+1 is quite the buff for 1 mana, and pairs pretty well with Whelp Bonker, as well as with any other Frenzy/Enrage minion (Kresh, Lord of Turtling in primis).

Moreover, it has Tradeable, which represents a soft card draw effect for Warrior, even though we think Team 5 could've given the class a better cycle engine.

Shield Slam on a stick. With the meta becoming more board-based, we see Onyxian Drake becoming more and more important. Sure, gaining a bunch of armor and playing a 4-drop in the same turn is not very easy most of the time, but Warrior has access to Frozen Buckler, which will become even stronger in future.

One last thing we want to point out is that, differently from Rise of Shadows' Omega Devastator, Onyxian Drake requires more setup, but you can also play it earlier and it has Taunt, which makes the card exponentially better than its older brother.

Basically a Shield Slam with your own face. Divine Shield apart, Hit It Very Hard guarantees a kill for any early game unit, as well as a good portion of the mid-game ones. Solid removal for Warrior, which is going to receive a cheap, versatile and non-Armor dependent removal tool.

People have been fantasizing about Silas Darkmoon-Soulbound Ashtongue shenanigans, but we think that Captain Galvangar is way more reliable as a late-game finisher.

Neutral

The poster card of the mini-set is here, and brings quite the upgrade to its original self. Immune is a very strong keyword, and that's why it has been used so rarely in the entire Hearthstone history. For this reason, we suggest you do not underestimate this unit, as it will prove to be a huge pain in the back.

While 10 mana is quite the price to pay, Raid Boss Onyxia will bring to the table at best 20/14 in stats, all of which with Rush, and you'll have to go through each Whelp before being able to deal with the main main body - definitely a rather annoying effect, especially if you're not very high on resources. What's even more interesting is that Onyxia doesn't synergize with just the Whelps it summons, but even with the ones you may bring to the table later, with effects like Scale of Onyxia and Tooth of Nefarian.

As Out Of Cards' responsible of the Duels game mode, this card makes me so happy. If I were to describe Kazakusan, I'd say that it's a better Archivist Elysiana: the cost the same and they both replace your deck with 10 cards you Discover, but this Dragon gives you access to a much more powerful pool of cards than the ones you normally include in a constructed deck (in case you missed them, Swizard has you covered).

Now, Kazakusan's potential depends on how powerful the Treasures are and how often you can expect to pick them. As a rough approximation, you'll almost always get something really good like Wax Rager, LOCUUUUSTS!!! (probably the best possible Treasure), Annoy-o Horn or Book of the Dead (which gets discounted even when if it's not in your hand).

However, forfeiting your entire deck just to get some cool and powerful Treasures may turn out to be a double-edged blade, as you'll also give up those tools that allow you to build and keep a board. Therefore, we only see Kazakusan (competitive wise) as a valuable late game bomb when you're up against other slow decks and you need more value to avoid fatigue, just like the old Elysiana.

In our opinion, people are underestimating Whelp Bonker. 5 Health on turn 3 and a card draw engine way less situational than Acolyte of Pain: this is the first Epic from a mini-set that has concrete chances to see competitive play.

Many classes may be interested in running this unit, as Whelp Bonker loves stat buffs: Aggro Druid, Buff Paladin and possibly Zoo Warlock all will be eager to try out this card.

ZooLock, in particular, has some interesting synergies: Sacrificial Summoner on a Nerubian Egg will give you a 4/4 and a chance to Recruit Bonker - quite the remarkable board for turn 3, with large chances of drawing at least one card off of it. A really solid card.

A couple years after Untapped Potential, here's another card that synergizes with unspent mana. However, differently from that Uldum's Quest, we deem Gear Grubber as a far better design, and we see some potential. Imagine yourself playing a slow deck: let's say Control Priest or Control Mage. How often do you find yourself on turn 2 having nothing to do other than using your Hero Power? Skipping it would allow you to have a 3 mana 4/5 to play on turn 3, or 2 mana in case you skipped your turn 1 too - not bad, and a good answer against aggressive strategies.

The only thing that may hold down this unit is that is has to be in your hand for it to be discounted, which means it's a terrible topdeck if you're cornered by your opponent. Not asking Team 5 to change their opinion on the matter though, as we've grown tired of 0 mana 4/5s.

In order to evaluate this card, let us compare it to a Forged in the Barrens one. Hog Rancher, for 3 mana and no condition upon the Battlecry, summons one 2/1 with Rush: it is reasonable to say that this is Arena material at best. Now, pay 2 more mana and Onyxian Warder gives you a bigger body and another Rushing 2/1 (and you need to have another Dragon in hand). If you see it this way, you'll notice that this card isn't probably the best Dragon ever printed.

Chances are Onyxian Warder was printed with the goal of increasing the number and quality of Dragons in Standard, allowing decks based around said tribe to have generally decent units to include in their deck and guarantee the synergy to always be active.

What do you think about these cards? Are there any you're excited to play with? Let us know in the comments below!