In the latest Hearthstone reveal stream for Murder at Castle Nathria, Game Designer Leo Robles Gonzalez teased a special kind of card in the set that is yet to be revealed. When asked by Brian Kibler if he had a favorite card not shown in the livestream, Gonzalez said there was one in particular, describing it as “Probably the coolest weapon/minion we’ve ever seen in Hearthstone.”
From the wording, “weapon/minion” and a mention of Felsteel Executioner, which transforms from a minion to a weapon through the Corruption mechanic, it’s likely that this isn’t simply a minion that has a weapon as part of it. We’ve seen plenty of minions which give your hero a weapon as a battlecry or deathrattle, but this sounds like something different, a card that is a weapon and a minion at the same time in some way. As it just so happens, there is a lore character from the setting of Castle Nathria that fits the bill perfectly.
Minions that give you weapons have been around since the beginning of Hearthstone.
What could be different about this teased one?
Lore
Remornia is a sentient sword belonging to Sire Denathrius, lord of the afterlife of Revendreth. A flaying blade with a will of its own, Remornia is fanatically loyal to her master and has a hungering for violence. When a resistance formed by Prince Renathal attempted to overthrow Denathrius for betraying his sacred duty of guiding souls to repentance, the Sire easily dispatched Renathal simply by letting Remornia slash him multiple times from the air.
During the following raid on Castle Nathria by Renathal and his allies, Remornia again was a powerful force to be reckoned with as she defended Denathrius. When her master was defeated, rather than allow him to be killed permanently or captured, Remornia absorbed his essence with the intention of taking him to be made whole by their ally The Jailer. However, the living blade was restrained by Renathal and sealed with the power of The Light to contain Denathrius as his prison. Guarded by a naaru, it was intended for the Sire’s imprisonment to last eons until he saw the error of his ways, but Remornia was stolen by Denathrius’ servants and taken to an unknown location, leaving the possibility for him to return from his blade.
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Remornia with Denathrius' essence trapped inside and bound by The Light.
Card Theories
From this background lore, the possibility exists for Remornia to either be a card of her own that somehow can be both a minion and a weapon, or possibly linked with/a part of a Sire Denathrius card with a mechanic involving him being absorbed and returning from the weapon. Nothing is known for sure, but this seems to be the most probable character/card that would fit Gonzalez’s tease.
As a side note, Prince Renathal has a sentient blade of his own named Vorpalia, and many other lesser blades exist in Revendreth, but Remornia is the one tied most closely to the “death” of Sire Denathrius, and fits the set theme perfectly.
What are your thoughts on this tease? Do you think we’re on the right track or do you have your own theories? Let us know in the comments below, along with what sort of card design you’d choose for a “weapon/minion”.
Comments
It will most likely have the Infuse keyword and that will be the transition, would be my guess.
My guess will be that it will start as a weapon with a reasonably high attack, 4 or 5 but with 1 durability
Rattle says: destroy enemy minion and summon the minion with deathrattle: equip this weapon.
That way you go killing enemies with the weapon, summon a copy and when the minion dies weapon comes back again.
Just needs better wording than i gave it.
That is a good guess.
Tacking on to the bit where it absorbed Denathrius's soul, what if the weapon used your lifepoints as health or durability somehow? For instance:
"Transform your hero into a sword. Its attack is a third of your lifepoints, rounded down."
Or maybe it's something similar with a minion, like "Infuse (1): Gain the dead minion's stats." Or, heck, maybe it's a minion that you play with "End of turn: Absorb all other minions' attack and health. Transform into a sword!" Maybe it isn't a complete coincidence that Sword Isekai and this card are coming out in the same year, heh.
It's unlikely, but maybe an infinite deathrattle? Like a minion that turns into a weapon when it dies, and a weapon that turns back into the minion when it's used up.
Neptulon's "limbs attack for you" concept could be interesting. A card that summons a minion and equips a weapon. When you hit with the weapon, the minion attacks instead.
Oooo, very clever idea. I'd like to see a custom card version of this concept if it isn't made into an actual card.
Prolly will be a warrior legendary so "Denathrius" can wield it. So hyped for her as she was part of the Denathrius fight and had one of the most cinematic attacks in wow.
I doubt this is going the
Choose One:
direction, so I'm guessing the new Infuse mechanic will be involved.
From the story you've presented above, maybe Remornia starts as a weapon card that Infuses into a minion?
Infuse may be involved, but it would have to do something a lot fancier than that to be touted as "Probably the coolest weapon/minion we’ve ever seen in Hearthstone."
I'd expect it to be more dynamic in how it switches card type, like it keeps going back and forth between minion and weapon while on the board. Maybe something like a minion with rush that says "After this attacks and survives, become a X/1 weapon with deathrattle to resummon this." That way it could be used to trade into small minions and be safer as a weapon on the opponent's turn, making it tricky enough to get rid of that it often feels fun, but still possible to remove with a bit of work so it doesn't get ridiculous.
Excellent point about the infuse mechanic.