Archwitch Willow

Class: Warlock

Rarity: Legend

Type: Minion

Mana: 9

Stats: 7/7

Battlecry: Summon a random Demon from your hand and deck.

Developer comment 

Willow actually has a disdain for teaching but Demonology gives her the opportunity to hang out with her favorites. As a late-game card in Warlock decks, Archwitch Willow can turn the tide of a match by summoning cards such as Enhanced Dreadlord.

The exclusive card reveal for Inven in the Scholomance Academy is a legendary Warlock minion, Archwitch Willow.

The Archwitch Willow is a legendary minion based on the human days of Willow, an undead NPC who can be found in World of Warcraft. In the game, she gives the “Twisted Evils” quest and is described as a researcher who studies rare plants or ancient relics. She is also a member of Twilight’s Hammer clan, who are trying to destroy Azeroth.

In Hearthstone, she costs 9 mana with 7/7 stats. Through her Battlecry, she can summon a Demon from both your hand and deck. Usually, Demon cards have penalties such as throwing away cards or damaging an ally minion, it is a decent card as a maximum of three minions can be summoned with 9 mana without any penalties.

If minions like Disguised Wander or Enhanced Dreadlord are summoned that are difficult to suppress, the opponent would be quite frustrated. If it’s a cube Warlock in the Wild that uses Doomguard, there could be a surprise kill chance in the very late game.

However, the biggest downside of this card is its extremely expensive cost. Usually, cards that cost more than 8 is used after losing the initiative to aggro or tempo decks, so they have to be game-changers. Especially, to go safely to the late game where high-cost minions can be used, cards like Dragonqueen Alexstrasza or Lady Liadrin are preferred.

The effect of Archwitch Willow, who can summon three minions on the field at most, can be good to seal the deal in advantageous situations, but there needs to be a certain amount of Demons in the deck. Most Warlocks that aim for the late game are usually based on dragons to play against aggro and tempo decks. When adding decent Demon cards in the deck, there could be issues with the deck’s flexibility and mana curve.

Also, through Archwitch Willow, the late game hand and deck could run out earlier. Another obstacle is that there aren’t that many useful Demon cards in the current card pool.

Overall, the Archwitch Willow isn’t a bad card, but in the current Hearthstone meta, where “counterfeit” cards are all over the place, she might be just too honest. Of course, more Demon cards could appear, and if there are unique Spellburst effects on them, there could be a new archetype that connects Spellburst minions, demons, and spells.

Will Willow be able to present Warlock users another deck? We’ll have to wait and see the following Demon cards to come in the update.

■ Archwitch Willow play video