Who will be able to stand up to the Lich King, back and in full form in the next expansion of Hearthstone? The Blood Elves of course! They will also be able to count on the power of the Sunwell as well as on the new mechanics of Mana Thirst to fight against the advance of the Scourge.
We have a rather strong Elf to reveal to you today! Blizzard has generously granted us the right to exclusively showcase the neutral legendary card Astalor Bloodsworn. If you were looking for a paragon of size to fight the Lich King, you will be served.
The map
Astalor Bloodsworn is a neutral 2/2 for 2 legendary minion. It has a battle cry, which adds the card Astalor the Protector in your hand. With Mana Thirst (4) active, he deals 2 damage.
Astalor the Protector is a 5/5 for 5 whose battle cry adds the card Astalor the Flamebringer in your hand. With Mana Thirst (7) active, it gives you 5 armor points.
Finally, Astalor the Flamebringer is an 8/8 for 8 that inflicts 8 points of damage randomly distributed among opponents. With a Mana Thirst (10) active, he inflicts 8 more!
Astalor doesn’t wear a minion-type tag, but never mind! It’s a neutral minion, and that’s priceless. Indeed, this Sin’dorei is playable by all classes, and it could well sneak into some control archetypes.
Analysis
Astalor is an “evolving” minion that will evolve in your hand in three different forms. Quite frankly, it’s a mechanic that has always been quite discreet in metagames, because it’s very difficult to set up.
Admittedly, this evolution mechanic gives you a long life, but very often what we are looking for is above all the power of the ultimate evolution. We particularly remember Rin the first disciplea card that included no less than 5 levels of evolution, before being able to launch Azari the Devourer, which more or less made you win the game. The problem is that this type of process is both very slow and very expensive.
In the case of Astalor, the evolution is also quite slow, because without activating the Mana Thirst, posed minions are of little relevance. The card could have found a place in aggro games, but due to the effect of stage 2 of the evolution, Astalor will undoubtedly be confined to the control archetypes.
Is the fire worth the candle?
Let’s focus a bit on the intrinsic effects of each evolution of Astalor. Astalor Bloodsworn is 2/2 for 2 and deals 2 damage with Mana Thirst. Not bad, especially since we can launch it t2 to advance in the evolution, simply to take the board.
Astalor the Protector is also quite correct, when you know that a card like the Virgin Warrior has more than once found its place in Warriors control decks.
We then come to the last stage of Astalor’s evolution. the flame holder is a good card, but is it worth such a perilous journey?
Enough to obliterate Denathrius?
If we focus our attention on the standard, the comparison between Astalor the Flamebringer and Sir Denathrius imposes itself. The two cards respond in a similar way to the same double objective: to break the opponent’s board or to finish the player you are facing..
We all know that Denathrius left its mark on the standard meta. It’s a finisher outstanding in most board-generating decks. In recent months, it has often been Theotar the Mad Duke which aimed to steal the Denathrius from the opponent’s hand, thus changing the outcome of the game at the start of turn 10.
But it seems to us that Astalor is much more difficult to set up than Sir Denathrius. That’s to say… No need to fatten it up first with Impregnationand as a bonus it costs a little less in the final stage, but Astalor still requires a lot of prerequisites to shine.
Furthermore, Astalor the Flamebringer doesn’t have the Theft of life… And that’s a big difference with Denathrius, which often allowed, when arriving on the board, to take shelter from the lethal.
Therefore, will Astalor be able to take the throne of the master of Revendreth in the standard meta? Nothing is less sure. However, let us be on our guard: Astalor Bloodsworn is a commendable neutral card, and it might even find its place alongside Sir Denathriusas the effect on turn 10 is impactful and reliable.
In France and the United Kingdom, several players who took a long break from Hearthstone had a very good surprise when they reconnected. Blizzard wishes us a good return on its TCG for the expansion Lich King, and it does it with style.