Spending every waking moment playing Hearthstone , your dreams tend to get a little crazy. Last night, after hitting rank three and realizing I have work in the morning, I passed out. In my head, I saw what I can only assume is an apparition, a monster with one bloodshot eye, a bag over his head and a screech that sent shivers down my spine. I had Jade Golem bodyguards, so I thought I was safe, but he sliced through each one like it was butter. I woke up in a sweat, unsure if it was a message from god or I just need to stop eating Papa Johns before bedtime. After some soul searching this morning, involving the Harmontown documentary and more games of Hearthstone, I realized I was just expressing my hatred for Skulking Geist.
The Knights Of The Frozen Throne meta is still evolving, with new decks popping up every day. Nobody is really sure what’s going to end up as top dog, though everyone’s trying to find it. Will Malfurion The Pestilent and his 1/5 spiders with Taunt prove too powerful, or will Shadowreaper Anduin claim the throne with unlimited bolts of damage? The developers really took a lot of time balancing this expansion; there’s been no broken archetype right out of the gate. Jade Druid currently looks like the strongest, with its strong Taunts, infinitely powerful minions and board clear for that pesky Lich King . It can survive most decks with Jade Idol, which could potentially make it the best deck in the expansion.
Unfortunately for Jade Druid mains (which I technically am), but thankfully for the rest of the Hearthstone community, Team 5 put Skulking Geist in the game. This card was built to destroy Druid and it isn’t shy about it. Its flavor text reads: “It's as though a million Jade Idols cried out, and were suddenly silenced.” It’s a 4/6 minion, meaning that no one Druid spell can clear the thing with damage alone. Wrath, Swipe and even Ultimate Infestation just fall short of being able to annihilate this abomination.
When designing the set, Team 5 must have had an inkling of suspicion that Jade Druid would just be too powerful. Judging games of Hearthstone on the ladder, I can tell you that Malfurion’s rock collection is extremely powerful. If you ramp up your mana curve early with Wild Growth and Jade Blossom, follow it up into a Nourish and Aya Blackpaw, then finish the game with an Ultimate Infestation, you’ve pretty much won the game. Some archetypes, like Token Druid and Pirate Warrior, can beat Jades before they get a chance to “get gud” by winning before turn five, but they are the minority.
Skulking Geist really isn’t seen in too many decks, but that’s going to change to really quickly. Jade Idols are going to swarm the meta, ruining any chance the meta had at being healthy. Summoning 11/11 Jade Golems off of a one-mana investment is just too good to pass up. Combine that with the massive amount of card draw from Ultimate Infestation and Nourish and you have a deck that’s disgustingly powerful. Whenever I face a Skulking Ghiest, I know my chances for winning just dropped dramatically. You can only summon a MAX of 8/8 Golems, which really isn’t enough to win a game.
That Scarecrow wannabe might not be what we deserve, but it’s what we need.
