We are now a full month into the Hearthstone Standard format extravaganza, with strong deck types emerging from the latest expansion Whispers of the Old Gods. Some cards got nerfed to the ground, R.I.P. Keeper of the Grove , while other cards that never saw much play are being used in top-tier decks. It’s a crazy time to be a Hearthstone player.
Flame Juggler was never considered an amazing two-drop, but now that the best two-drops, Shielded Minibot, Haunted Creeper and Mad Scientist , can no longer be played, the fireball thrower starts to stand out. His 2/3 body lets him trade with pretty much any 2-mana minion (as long as you aren’t up against Dragon Priest) and the one extra damage can be great to clear sticky minions like Argent Squire.
The weirdest card from the basic set to get popular is Stampeding Kodo, a five-mana 3/5 that destroys one random minion with two or less attack. This card has always been around, but was considered trash outside of arena. With those sticky two-drops going away with the format change, it’s now the rhino’s time to shine.
The Kodo is mainly used in N’zoth Paladin, though it does get used in a lot of Reno Lock decks. N’zoth Paladin’s job is to keep control of the game with healing cards like Ragnaros the Lightlord and Forbidden Healing. AKAWonder ran two in his Hearthstone European Preliminary deck that helped him win the whole tournament.
Stampeding Kodo’s job is to clear some of the lower attack minions that can lose Paladin board control, mainly Doomsayer . When a Paladin player hears “the end is coming” there isn’t much he can do. Besides a Humility and Wild Pyromancer play, there aren’t many options for a Paladin player to remove that Doomsayer and that’s where the furry, red five-drop steps in . It also stomps out little Tunnel Troggs, Darnassus Aspirants, and Imp Gang Bosses, which can all snowball into serious problems if left on the board.
One of the best parts of the format change is seeing all these cards that were unloved for so long become popular. Who knows, maybe one day we might even see Icehowl in a World Championship deck. We’ve got extra deck slots, anything’s possible now.
