As the mysterious early April release date grows nearer, more and more new cards are surfacing from the depths of Un’Goro’s lush jungles. The latest bunch of reveals look powerful and it’s a safe bet that at least one of them will become a format defining card.

Murlocs, in particular, are growing stronger every week! Before we start the card review, be sure to check out previous analysis of the 1st and 2nd wave of new cards.

Unite the Murlocs is an easy quest to complete for a dedicated Murloc deck. Anyone who has ever experimented with competitive Murloc decks understand that it’s easy to dump your hand, but nearly impossible to fill it up again. The legendary Shaman quest aims to solve this problem by rewarding you with incredible value after unloading your hand.

(1) Neptulon is a similar card that aims to solve the primary problem with Murloc decks, but it’s overload and high mana cost often made it unplayable. Whereas Neptulon required more conservative Murloc decks, this quest encourages an all-out flood the board approach.

(2) Unite the Murlocs allows the Murloc deck more consistency, as it will always be in your starting hand. The risk of running out of threats becomes less of a problem and more room can be made for cheap murlocs in the deck.

(3) The quest requirement is to “Summon” 10 Murlocs. Not play them from hand. This means cards like Call in the Finishers and Murloc Tidehunter are particularly useful in completing this quest.

Hydrologist is the next powerful Murloc card only, this time, it’s Paladin exclusive. It has a respectable stats-to-mana ratio and provides any paladin deck the ability to discover one of their 1 mana secrets. When this card is live, there will only be 5 standard Paladin secrets (Sacred Trial is rotating out) and each of them can be useful in niche scenarios. I have a feeling this card will see a lot of play.

(1) Discover works especially well with this card as Secrets are only powerful in specific circumstances. Discover helps you choose the right secret for the right moment.

(2) Even non Murloc Paladin decks might be interested in playing this card. Cards like Swashburglar and Babbling Book already see play and it’s largely because of the free value they bring.

(3) Handbuff Paladin decks are forced to play a lot of minions in order to maximize the effect of cards like Grimestreet Outfitter. Hydrologist helps them achieve high minion density while still having access to reactive Secrets.

More Murlocs! Primalfin Lookout is another attempt at solving the Murloc decks issue of running out of cards to play. Although a 3 mana 3/2 is pretty dismal, the added bonus of choosing between three different Murlocs should be enough to have this card see play.

(1) Discover a Murloc allows players access to niche Murloc cards that, while useful in some situations, aren’t reliable enough to place in your deck.

(2) For example, cards like Corrupted Seer or Coldlight Seer get better when you can choose between them depending on the deck you are facing.

(3) Most Murloc decks will have a Murloc on the board by turn 3. Vilefin Inquistor in Paladin can help ensure this requirement as well!

Besides being the first card to validate the Rager series, Tol’vir Stoneshaper is actually a very strong card when played on curve after an Elemental. At long last, Sen’Jin Shieldmasta has felt the power creep invade his particular 4 mana domain. This card isn’t strictly better than Sen’Jin, as it doesn’t guarantee Taunt every time you play it.. However, when it’s battlecry is activated it can be a massive tempo swing.

(1) Taunt minions around the 4-to-5 mana cost range are usually important in defining the meta. Tol’vir Stoneshaper has a good chance of becoming a staple card in Elemental decks.

(2) You never want to play this card if you aren’t activating its Battlecry reliably. However, a four mana 3/5 isn’t totally unplayable.

(3) This card has the potential to be Sludge Belcher levels of defensive thanks to its Divine Shield.

Kalimos, Primal Lord gives Shaman a lot of incentive to play Elemental themed decks, but it’s power level is high enough to warrant its conclusion in control Shaman decks as well. It is important to note that players are able to choose between which Invocation they want to cast: it isn’t random!

(1) The Invocation you select is played immediately. It doesn’t go to your hand so you can save it for later.

(2) The flexibility of this card is it’s biggest strength. It is very rare that an activated turn 8 Kalimos won’t leave the Shaman player with a big advantage.

(3) Fire Fly is the easiest way to enable this card and non-elemental themed Shaman decks might include two of them in order to enable Kalimos. 

(4) The Air and Water Invocations are particularly important for control Shaman decks looking to stabilize late in the game.

Many attempted to guess what the Rogue legendary quest would be and no one was even close to being correct. The Caverns Below is, so far, the most unique quest revealed and further cements Rogue as “the combo” class. Playing four minions with the same name is impossible to do unless the Rogue player specifically builds their deck around it.

(1) Cards like Youthful Brewmaster, Shadow Step and even Gadgetzan Ferryman are the type of cards needed to complete this tricky quest.

(2) The reward, Crystal Core, makes unassuming cards like StoneTusk Boar, Young Dragonhawk, Argent Squire, and even Angry Chicken much more threatening. Any deck looking to make use of The Caverns Below will likely go all-in on 1-cost minions.

(3) It’s possible that Wisp might see play, in this style of deck, as it is much easier to cast Wisp four times thanks to its 0 mana cost.

(4) Patches the Pirate will be a 5/5 when he comes from the deck if Crystal Core is active.

Mimic Pod was revealed alongside the Rogue legendary quest and for good reason. This spell is very similar to Arcane Intellect, but is particularly useful for combo decks that want multiple copies of the same card. That sounds like a strange nuance at first, but there are scenarios in which two copies of one card in your deck is better than two random cards from your deck.

(1) Mimic Pod amplifies great top decks and horrible top decks alike. This card alone expands the complexity of calculating lethal percentages based on specific draws immensely.

(2) This card does a bad job of “digging” for a specific card, but in return it gives the Rogue player added value. You draw one card from your deck, but two land in your hand!

(3) Drawing Mimic Pod with Mimic Pod is one of the worst outcomes, as it effectively only draws you 1 card for 3 mana with no additional options.

So far, only the Warlock, Shaman, Rogue, and Priest legendary quest cards have been revealed. Can you guess the remaining quest mechanics?

Check back for more analysis and review of the new cards as they become available.

Review of the first wave of cards

Review of the second wave of card