A card-reveal stream featuring Game Designer Peter Whalen and caster Dan “Frodan” Chou kicked off the much anticipated period of unveiling new cards.

With new mechanics such as Echo and Rush being introduced in the set, in addition to Reno Jackson-esque legendaries that require your deck to consist of either odd or even-costed cards, The Witchwood is bound to change Hearthstone’s landscape.

The first revealed cards immediately had people sitting up straight, as the orange-glowing card turned out to be one of Hunter’s two new legendaries. Reminiscent of the Hunter class card Tundra Rhino, Houndmaster Shaw seems to be designed for slower Hunter decks. While his aura-effect does affect all minions rather than just beasts (as is the case with Tundra Rhino), giving those minions Rush rather than Charge lends itself for a board-controlling strategy.

More love for slower decks came in the shape of Rotten Applebaum. The moldy tree combines Priest’s Darkshire Alchemist with Second-Rate Bruiser to form what appears to be a rather awkward minion at first. However, as pro player Ruben “Chinoize” Truong pointed out on Twitter, the card might just fit in a Quest Warrior deck that focuses on cards with an odd cost.

Druids received love on stream too, as two of its cards were shown. Both cards seem to push Druid in a hand-token direction–an archetype yet to be explored in any class. Witchwood Apple fills your hand with undead trees, and Wispering Woods seeks to exploit that by instantly generating a board full of Wisps. Aggressive token-oriented Druids have proven to be a force to be reckoned with in the past and should not be underestimated.

A throwback to Hearthstone’s first expansion of the card collection followed, when Naxxramas’ Loatheb reincarnated in the shape of Rebuke. Though the Paladin spell does not grant a body on the board when played, its effect still is incredibly powerful. As became evident when Loatheb joined Hearthstone, perfectly timing a disruptive effect like this can be a nightmare for any deck archetype, from Aggro to Control.

Talking about nightmares, Priest received a new tool to give their opponents exactly those scary dreams. Vivid Nightmare in essence is a weaker version of Mage’s Molten Reflection and it would be a considerably weaker card, were it not for the fact that it costs 3 Mana instead of 4. The community’s cogs started spinning immediately when the card came up to find powerful combinations with it. We won’t spoil too much, but let’s say Prophet Velen and Mind Blast have made for a happy couple in the past.

Witchwood’s haunted forest would be nothing without scary old women wandering around, looking for souls to be devoured. While she’s in play, Glinda Crowskin gives every minion in hand Echo. A pretty good deal if she sticks around for a turn, but she can have immediate value as well. The cheap Kobold Librarian can allow for multiple cards to be drawn, and Sea Giant only makes itself cheaper with each copy that is played.

For those who thought all nightmares had been dreamed there was some bad news. Nightmare Amalgam is what you get when in a movie a four-year-old draws their own Pokémon and some evil spirit brings it to life. While the card’s effect is interesting it must also be noted that its incredible synergy potential also has a downside: it is susceptible to all targeted removal cards like Hungry Crab, Sacrificial Pact and Dragonslayer. But regardless of whether you run those in your deck or not, you always have to kill this abomination for the sake of it. Kill it with fire, please.

To round off the reveal stream a mystery was resolved. Ever since The Witchwood was announced the Hero Card Hagatha the Witch was known to eventually end up in the game, but the card’s effect remained a mystery. Until now. The set’s only Hero Card effectively casts a Hellfire upon play and swaps Shaman’s Hero Power for a passive one. Hagatha’s high cost and value-oriented ability steer the class in a slower direction than its current main archetype Token Shaman.

Hagatha immediately brought someone with her, as her apprentice was revealed too. The croaky caster seems to have learned from its master’s resource-generating ability and is Shaman’s version of Babbling Book. A little more flavorful perhaps, as it boasts the same stats as the frog Hex turns minions into.

To see this week’s reveal schedule and all revealed cards thus far keep an eye on Hearthstone’s official website. Do you want to hear Peter Whalen’s and Frodan’s thoughts on the cards revealed on stream? Catch the entire reveal stream in the VOD below!

(Images via Blizzard)