Journey to Un’Goro is coming to Hearthstone this week and the expansion is hailed as the savior of a game which has been the thrall of pirates and jades for months on end.

Un’Goro’s biggest asset—and potentially its biggest flaw—is that it’s not a “safe” expansion. The preceding Gadgetzan and Karazhan focused more on strong individual minions and spells more so than intriguing interactions or new mechanics. The lands around the legendary crater, however, are festered with beasts that are ever adapting and dangerous, but also offer generous rewards in terms of quests. Looking at the now fully revealed set, Un’Goro could be the biggest challenge for innovative deckbuilders since League of Explorers.

Although the actual strengths of cards is only established after the settling of the meta, it’s always a necessary exercise to evaluate the potentially strong and staple. Looking forward to the expansion roll-out in the next 24 hours, we look at ten of the potentially mightiest new minions and spells with which we’ll play in the next months.

Open the Waygate

Open the Waygate—like most cards with such unorthodox effects—is a tough card to evaluate, but the reward is just so powerful that it must be on the list.

The thing with card games is that balance is only achieved if turns follow the established norm and it’s the swaying from the standard that potentially breaks the game. Take mana cost for example. Even the strongest cards in the game are balanced around how pricey they are in terms of mana and when they can be played in the curve. Thus, mana cost reduction is one of the most powerful effects in cards games. Think of how Tempo Mage swings the game through a simple Sorcerer’s Apprentice, or how Freeze Mage decks blow you away after a big Emperor Thaurissan discount.

Now, take this sway-from-the-norm concept a step further. What if your opponent doesn’t get a turn after you did? What if you played two turns in a row?

Magic: The Gathering tried this idea first, of course, and issued a card called Time Walk way back in Alpha. A part of the “Power 9”, Time Walk is now banned in almost every format and its price on Amazon is up to $1700 for a single copy.

Open the Waygate is Hearthstone’s Time Walk. Granted, you have to go through a convoluted quest of playing generated spells, but getting an extra turn for (5) is still a powerful effect. Theorycrafters are already playing with Waygate Fatigue Mages which hide behind Ice Block, cast dozens of spells, play their Quest alongside free Arcane Giants and use the free turn to end the game.

Will this whimsical strategy be any viable? Who knows. But one thing’s for certain: Open the Waygate is a card of which we’ll have to be very careful.

Primordial Glyph

Remember the “sway from the norm” argument from the previous section? Primordial Glyph is the other Mage card in Un’Goro that does it.

Glyph’s power is not just the extra spell you discover. Strictly speaking, that’s a one-for-one exchange, a cantrip that doesn’t generate card advantage, although the ability to adapt to a scenario is certainly worthwhile. It’s the mana cost reduction that makes this card so powerful.

Primordial Glyph will generate 5-mana Flamestrikes, 4-mana Blizzards and Meteors, 3-mana Fireballs, 1-mana secrets, and free Frostbolts (or free Primordial Glyphs), and your opponent will never know what exactly you got. Remember all the games once won by Unstable Portal? That was a card that gave you a random  minion from the hundreds without allowing you to pick. Primordial Glyph is much more focused and Mage spells are generally more powerful than those of other classes.

This is a good card. Don’t disenchant it.

The Marsh Queen

While Mage is slated to play card-generation shenanigans, Hunter is given Hunter things, which is something the class has been lacking in Gadgetzan. The Marsh Queen and Queen Carnassa embody the spirit of the class by encouraging aggression and rewarding it with even more—almost unending—aggression.

Carnassa’s 15 1-mana 4/3 raptors cover the fundamental weakness of all blistering, all-in decks: Running out of gas. Other classes which have played this archetype in the past have managed to somehow mitigate this—Paladins through Divine Favor, Warlocks through Life Tap—but Hunter has always lacked hand refill.

If Aggro Hunter returns to the meta, it will only be because The Marsh Queen ensures that the threats keep on coming. Which must always be the case, when you put the clock on someone’s life.

Crackling Razormaw

Crackling Razormaw looks to be one of the strongest 2-drops, potentially in all of Standard, as it has place in both aggro and midrange decks. Crackling Razormaw makes strong 1-drops like Fiery Bat and Alley Cat even better, not to mention the class is getting two more in Raptor Hatchling and Jeweled Macaw. Imagine a Fiery Bat hitting face for 5 and then dying to kill something before the third turn of the game.

Although Razormaw is best played on curve, it doesn’t lose potency in the mid or late game either. It can come down on T4 to adapt an Animal Companion and leave your mana open for a Steady Shot, or just be played on something big like Savannah Highmane. Adapt, after all, is never late.

Sunkeeper Tarim

In the oppressive days of Jade Druid and Jade Shaman, whose minions can go out of control, Sunkeeper Tarim is one more tool the Paladin class needs to survive, shrinking those 11/11s to manageable sizes.

That is, of course, not the entire beauty of Sunkeeper Tarim. His effect is mirrored, which means he gets to buff your own minions, so at the same time, Sunkeeper Tarim serves as Eadric the Pure of the enemy (kind of) and a Quartermaster for you, buffing your 1/1 tokens to 3/3s. The stat line of Sunkeeper Tarim is also great and at 3/7, it means that in battle he will trade for three of the now-debuffed enemy minions.

Ironically, Tarim’s only weakness is not with him specifically, but with the potential viability of controlling Paladin decks post-Un’Goro. The archetype is not looking to have the best of days. as Anyfin Paladin is rotating out of standard and N’Zoth Paladin is losing Sylvanas and Ragnaros. The direction for Paladin in Un’Goro is all about minion buffs, which is in line with the Gadgetzan theme for the class, so Tarim might be left out simply because nobody will want to play him in those decks.

Maybe next year, buddy?

Envenom Weapon

Efficient removal is a game changer for any class which can afford it. Warrior, for example, has been a Tier 1 class in almost all metagames due to Fiery War Axe and a 1-mana Execute alone.

With Backstab, Eviscerate and Sap in their arsenal, Rogues were a close second to Warriors in that regard, and now they are getting another removal tool: Envenom Weapon. This 3-mana epic turns your weapon poisonous, meaning whatever it hits—dies.

In most situations, Envenom Weapon will affect a 2-health hero power, enabling two minion snipes. That gives us 1.5 mana per minion removal, which is already cheaper than the current 2-mana Execute and that’s without the need to be activated first or considering that Rogues can get this out for free through Preparation.

Evenom Weapon is also a good on-paper fit in Water Rogue, the archetype that looks to be the go-to one for the class with the exile of Conceal and therefore drop in power of Miracle Rogue.

Ravenous Pterrordax

Many are looking at Lakkari Sacrifice as the bomb Warlock card of the set, but I believe they’re looking at the wrong card. While Lakkari Sacrifice’s effect is certainly savory, there’s one inconspicuous common that has the potential to single-handedly win games.

Ravenous Pterrordax is a 4-mana 4/4 which feeds on your minion to adapt twice.

And guess what: That’s an amazing deal.

Warlocks have never shied away from sacrificing their own soldiers, a tactic which dates back to the Naxxramas days when Void Terror used to feast on Nerubian Eggs and the likes and was considered a staple in many Zoo decks.

Pterrordax behaves in a very similar way and will quickly grow into a formidable threat. Its drawback is merely symbolic. Warlocks will not care about sacrificing their 1/1 tokens from Possessed Villager or their Flame Imps which have already attacked two-three times. Even sacrificing a wounded minion which has already traded is worth it, considering what you can get. 4 mana 7/4 stealth? 4 mana 7/4 divine shield?

4 mana 7/7?

Blazecaller

There have been several cards in Hearthstone which have behaved like this new Blazecaller. Early Midrange Shamans religiously included Fire Elemental as a potent swing card. Tempo and Reno Mages swear by the Firelands Portal, another removal/board developing two-in-one card.

Blazecaller outdoes them both and is considered by many to be the strongest card in the set. Blazecaller’s 6/6 body doesn’t care what class you’re playing, only that you have Elementals in it. If you play then, it will deal 5 damage on battlecry.

There’s no minion in that area of the curve that will survive a 5-damage blow, barring those which have adapted out of range and even they will go out blazing with a helpful ping or cheap removal. And when they do, a 6/6 elemental will still pose threat on the board.

Tar Creeper

Tar Creeper is, in my opinion, one of the most elegantly designed defensive cards in the game and frankly my most favorite one of the set. It’s right there with Wild Pyromancer, or Doomsayer: A cheap card with great effect that doesn’t break the game on its own.

There’s not much to write about Tar Creeper, to be honest. It is no Open the Waygate after all, but not every card needs to be that. Oftentimes, less is more, and Tar Creeper is one of those times.

Tol’vir Stoneshaper

I will end this feature on another personal favorite of mine. Tol’vir Stoneshaper is an elemental-synergistic minion which is almost certain to see use in this new Un’Goro tribal.

Even though Tol’vir Stoneshaper isn't an elemental itself and thus potentially breaks the curve-chain for T5, triggering its effect on T4 is a massive swing. From what we’ve seen from Un’Goro elementals, the tribal will have aggro or fast midrange overtones and with a decent number of 1-3 mana elementals, Stoneshaper will come down as a straight up better Sen’jin Shieldmasta the majority of times. On curve, it’s as powerful as Twilight Guardian — arguably more, even. Just like how Dragons decks can’t live without their favorite 3/6 taunt, Elemental decks will see their power diminished with Tol’vir Stoneshaper not included. 

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Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.