Which is the Best Old God In 'Hearthstone: Whispers of the Old Gods?'

After weeks of waiting, we now know what all four of the Old God cards do. Hearthstone: Whispers of the Old Gods introduces some of the strangest and interesting cards in the game, all stemming from the destructive powers of these titans chained beneath the ground. C’thun, N’zoth, Y’Shaarj and Yogg-Saron are the most powerful beings in Azeroth and now in card form.

They are all ten mana, can be searched by Ancient Harbringer and have game changing effects, but that’s all they really have in common. Are they good or are they just Angry Chickens in omniscient bodies?

Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End

First off, we have the god of many mouths, Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End . When he’s summoned, a random spell is cast for each spell that you cast this game. This card might as well say “Battlecry: kill a random player.” For ten mana you get the potential for any spell in the game to hit anything on the board. It could throw three Pyroblasts at your opponent, or it can cast Firebolts and Moonfires directly at your face. There is no way of knowing what or where this card will cast and I think that’s what makes it so interesting.

From a competitive standpoint, Yogg-Saron is garbage. The card is dependent entirely on RNG. When you play it, the only option is for you to cross your fingers and hope that the heart of the cards is with you. It’s still a fun card and if I pull one out of my pre-order packs, then I will use it.

Imagine a mage deck with Cabalist’s Tome (which adds three mage spells to your hand) and Ethereal Conjurer. I want to see Yogg go mad with power, throwing out spells every which way.

Things to keep in mind: if he kills himself, his Battlecry will finish, the spells it uses donot count to another Yogg-Saron and he does not activate combos. Reddit user gamingdude295 has collected all of Blizzard’s tweets about it here .

Y’Shaarj, Rage Unbound

Our other gimmicky card, Y’Shaarj, Rage Unbound, might find some trouble finding a home. His ability takes a random minion from your deck and puts it into the battlefield. You would want to run a lot of high mana minions in a deck that uses him with Battlecrys, like Molten Giant or Ragnaros the Lightlord . That creates a deck that curves on the higher side, leaving you defenseless in the early game. If Blizzard does succeed in slowing down the game enough, it could end up being top-tier.

I’m not going to craft this sucker – it’s not worth the dust. But if I pull Yogg-Saron , then I’m creating an Alarm-O-Bot gimmick deck for the Wild format. I’ve lost to decks that use this borderline useless three mana mech to summon powerhouses like Ysera. Imagine summoning Yogg- Saron and then have him pull out a beefy wall every turn. The opportunities are mouthwatering.

N’Zoth the Corrupter

Holy crap is this card awesome. N’Zoth the Corrupter has a Battlecry that summons every minion with Deathrattle that died in a game. When this tentacle monster was first announced, a lot of people rolled their eyes. The best cards with Deathrattle were being removed from the game with the format change. Without Sludge Belcher or Haunted Creeper why would anyone play this guy?

Turns out we are getting a few really good Deathrattle minions in this coming set. Tentacle of N’zoth and Spawn of N’zoth are low mana minions that keep your early game from getting too weak. This sort of deck works best with Rogue now. Undercity Huckster and Xaril, Poisoned Mind have great Deathrattles that keep your hand and board strong. If you actually manage to get N’zoth out, you get all these cards back again for a measly ten mana. I see Rogue N’zoth becoming a staple in the meta.

C’thun

Onto the big daddy himself, the eyeball that started off all this hype, C’thun . His Battlecry does damage randomly split among enemies equal to his health. He starts off with six, but can get more attack from different cards. It’s the first of its kind, a deck built around buffing one super minion, even if it’s still in the deck. Beckoner of Evil, C’thun’s Chosen and Twilight Elder give the eye stalk attack, no matter where he is.

There will be decks built around the big guy, but I don’t see them becoming too successful. C’thun’s effect is too random and requires massive luck to pull off. He could send all of his eye blasts to your opponent's force, ignoring their strong board. If another card comes out that helps consistency, C’thun could be top tier but not with the cards currently in it’s archetype.