by OtakuMZ - 8 years ago     show comments

Introduction

The Menagerie, the third wing of One Night in Karazhan (ONiK) will open its doors for NA Hearthstone players later today, the rest of the world will have to wait a litlle longer, most likely about 4-8 hours past the initial NA release. If you want to buy the wing, it will cost you 700 gold or 7 US$. Let’s take a look at this week’s cards…

Cards of “The Menagerie”

Card Predictions

As in last week’s preview, I will not talk about every single card in this article again, as we already did individual initial reviews. I kindly invite you to take a look back at our Karazhan Card Evaluation #1 to #7 articles or to head to my Karazhan Power Rankings. Some predictions of these reviews already were proven wrong (hello Wicked Witchdoctor) but most were on point or really close. Today, I will provide a look at the actual state of the game two weeks in of the expansion and what might change with the third wings cards.

Crème de la Crème

This week, there are some obvious good cards, Menagerie Warden and The Curator. Menagerie Warden will likely push Beast Druid at the top of the meta, determined to crush all slow control tryout decks. The Curator is more flexible and might be used in a vast number of decks. It can be imagined in almost any class but first and foremost Druid, Hunter and Paladin. Zoolock is another archetype that seems to be in line with this legendary minion. Atop, this mech seems usable in midrange and late-game oriented decks. I might also imagine it in more aggressive decks as a refill option if your deck runs low on cards, protecting some valuable small minions in the process.

Dumpster

Purify probably is the most talked about card of this expansion – and the worst one too. I won’t start the rant again. It is simply not a competitive card. It is meant for some fun deck building experiments, nothing more, and nothing less. Another card I cannot find a home or eve a use for is Runic Egg. I might be totally off the track but I see no use in wasting a card slot for a possible cycle without having any additional benefit of a good body  – TLDR: garbage.

Intdeterminate But Full of Hope

Despite my initial assessment, I think Cat Trick might get into a Trap Hunter deck in conjunction Cloaked Huntress or even be valid in SMOrc decks to get some additional damage in. Anyway, with or without this, Hunter should be in a decent spot this expansion.

Nightbane Templar is hopefully the puzzle piece that a Dragon Paladin (control or midrange) is lacking to be viable. I do not have the highest hope though but I would be happy being proven wrong. I can see it also viable in a midrange list with few dragon, first and foremost Azure Drake and Book Worm and played in conjunction with Steward of Darkshire for some sick value.

I am still not sold on Fool’s Bane but with the theorycrafting inside of my head I did the last weeks it has moved in my ranking from initially unplayable/garbage to tech choice/decent. I can also imagine a world where it is played side by side with Violet Illusionist (Wing 4) for some heavy board clear.

Babbling Book and Arcane Watcher seem to be made for Control Mage or Grinder/Value Mage. The first seems quite nice but very heavy on the RNG side with being totally random. It would have been awesome with “discover” though. We have to see how it performs but from as far as my play tests went with Swashburglar, I am more than optimist.

The final pair is Zoobot and Menagerie Magician which in addition to The Curator build the multi-tribe triumvirate with MM being no mech though in contrast to the other two. The fate of both buff minions is still unsure in my opinion, only playtesting will tell whether they are playable or not. I see those cards potentially being abused in the same decks as The Curator.

Deck Predictions

First and foremost we will see a lot of Beast Druid and I imagine it dominating this week’s meta and I think I will be meant to stay this time. Another archetype that will see a lot of testing for sure will be Control/Grinder/Value Mage with the most recent above mentioned additions. Anyway, I think it will remain a niche outside of specialized players (e.g. Brian Kibler) but it will most likely turn out being better than before. Also, Dragon Mage might be a valid possibility as well as Dragon Paladin in either a midrange or a control variation (Brian Kibler, I count on you!). The rest of playtesting will be centered around making The Curator and the other multi-tribe cards work in a vast number of different decks.