There have been a ton of awesome cards revealed for Hearthstone’s coldest expansion, Knights Of The Frozen Throne , some with some truly unique and awe-inspiring effects. Mindbreaker has no Battlecry, can’t Adapt or have a strong Deathrattle, but I believe it’s one of the best cards in the set. He’s a three-mana 2/5 minion that disables Hero Powers. Jaina can’t shoot her mini fireballs, Anduin can’t heal himself for two and Gul’dan won’t be drawing any cards. It’s got Carrion Grub’s stats on top of an effect that can be game-winning against certain match ups. To say I’m a fan is an understatement.
It’s amazing to me that it took Hearthstone this long to create a card like Mindbreaker . Hero Powers are an important part of Mage, Rogue, Warlock, Paladin and pretty much every hero’s early game. Without that early game pressure, it could be hard for them to come back and curve out properly. With Death Knights coming in Knights Of The Frozen Throne , the card gets even bigger. Even though we’ve only seen two of the skeletal knights, we know how important Hero Powers are to their kit. If DK Rexxar can’t stitch Beasts together and Jaina can’t summon Elementals, you’re essentially wasting a whole turn’s worth of mana for a few points of armor.
My first instinct, along with many others on reddit, after looking at this card is thinking how amazing it’s going to be in Arena. Sap, Fireball and Sinister Strike need to be wasted on a three-mana baby minion, which gives your opponent less resources to use on actual threats. We’ll have to wait and see, but I expect Mindbreaker to have a much larger effect on Standard ladder play.
Hearthstone rarely prints cards that directly counter others. Hungry Crab and Golakka Crawler munch on Pirates and Murlocs, The Black Knight ends the lives of Taunt minions and Heming Nesingwary blows up a Beast. Cards that directly target “popular” archetypes will see play, which is why Hearthstone’s developers are so stingy with that mechanic. In the current meta, Gluttonous Ooze shuts down weapons that Acidic Swamp Ooze just isn’t cool enough to destroy and it’s a minion you have to include in some decks that can’t beat Pirate Warrior. Before its nerf, Big Game Hunter was everywhere, showing Dr. Boom what someone with a huge gun can do. Creating counter cards when a new threat pops up can be dangerous; you wouldn’t want a match-up decided by a single draw. Still, keeping threats down is an important part of a growing card game that wants to keep players happy.
Mindbreaker isn’t as broken as Loatheb or Big Game Hunter , but it does add a level of strategy to a Hearthstone deck. Do you put one in your deck, making your opponent waste removal or a minion on it, or do you save the deck spot for something more aggressive? Versatile but good cards are rare in Hearthstone release; there’s usually only a couple in each set, with the rest being filler. Journey To Un’Goro attempted to fix this trend by including dozens of powerful and unique cards with strong synergies, but there were still plenty of Weasel Tunnelers. Knights Of The Frozen Throne does still have Ticking Abomination , but even Blizzard isn’t perfect.
Do you think I’m riding the hype train a bit too hard, or will Mindbreaker be a useful card outside of Arena? Tell us in the comments.
