After two disappointing days, we finally have some new great Hearthstone: Whispers of the Old Gods cards. Lothar , one of Hearthstone ’s famous streamers, revealed his card today: Steward of Darkshire. It’s a three mana 3/3 Paladin minion that gives Divine Shield to anyone health minion you summon. That means it works with the Paladin hero power, and with Muster for Battle . Imagine three Silver Hand Recruits who turn into Argent Squires for free. It’s like a reverse Hobgoblin.
Cards that buff Silver Hand Recruits are already good in Paladin decks; Midrange Paladin is built around cards like Quartermaster and Warhorse Trainer . Steward of Darkshire can give those little knights even more survivability, helping you win trades with relative ease. I just unlocked my Golden Paladin portrait, so i plan to do some serious BMing.
Anyfin Can Happen in League of Explorers was supposed to be the card that would make Murloc Paladin good again. Unfortunately. Murloc Paladin struggled as a tier two deck and is now just for gimmicks. With our new Steward , Bluegill Warrior will have some stickiness, turning it into an Argent Horserider. Steward of Darkshire does have some downsides. It’s still just a 3/3 for three mana, so its stats are good but not super. It’s also a really bad turn three drop, since hoping it stays alive isn’t an option with popular removal cards like Frostbolt and Wrath being everywhere.
Our next card comes from Weibo of Zangding , and it’s our first powerful dragon of the set. Scaled Nightmare is a six mana 2/8 that doubles its attack at the start of your turn. On paper it doesn’t sound that special, just a super expensive minion that takes forever to ramp up. Nightmare Drake was it's Chinese name, but Hearthpwn just announced the official name.
In Standard format, all the cards that speed up the game, like Mysterious Challenger and Haunted Creeper , disappear to make room for slower tempo cards. Nightmare Drake needs time to ramp up, getting its value back after one turn and only going up from there. Eight health is no joking matter either; it can bump heads with other six mana minions like Savannah Highmane and survive. Decks like Dragon Priest will run two copies of this card using it alongside Twilight Guardian and Twilight Drake.
Scaled Nightmare needs to be played at the right time, or it will be wasted. If your opponent is a Paladin and you still haven’t seen their Equality , Aldor Peacekeeper or Keeper of Uldaman, it might not be a good idea to play your scary dragon.
Good Hearthstone players know how to play on curve while predicting their opponent's next play. Keep that in mind when you want to use either of these fancy new cards.
