Psychobabble.au
05-31-2013, 01:40 AM
If there are any english-language fan sites out there that would like to host this series, please email me - psychobabbleswccg at gmail.com. I contacted a couple but haven't heard back, so I'm posting it here for now.
With the full spoiler up, I thought it might be a good idea to do a complete card by card review. Every day for the next few days, I'll post up another batch of cards. I'll start today with heroes, neutral and haven creatures and move through the rest as I could be bothered.
I'm going to be using the rating scale of a certain well known writer from another TCG, although my reviews will unfortunately be less punny:
5.0: Format all-Star (pao, dark assassin). Probably would only include super-powerful neutral cards.
4.0: Format staple (firebolt, insect swarm, broken bridge, wolf captain). The sort of card you always need to be keeping in mind, or creatures which are so powerful that they warp the meta.
3.5: Good in multiple archetypes, but not a format staple (tainted orc, lilim, vampire knight, coral priestess, tithe collecter). These are standard, very powerful, creatures which almost always be included in decks that can play them, but aren't so powerful that they dictate the meta. Might also include some spells and fortunes, but probably they will be rated a straight 3 or 4 (or lower).
3.0: Archetype staple (stone shield, time jump, dreamweaver, wasteland, wolf justicar). Cards which are really good in a particular decktype, but need some synergies to get there.
2.5: Role-player in some decks, but not quite a staple. (Inner fire, goblin sharpshooter, plague zombie, centaur archer, demented, campfire). Cards you might put in your deck, but which aren't super exciting and which might get substituted for other options.
2.0: Niche card (naga tactician, dispels, purity, tree of truth, cosmic realignment). Most "counter" cards fall in this category, or just cards which require a lot of work to go right.
1.0: Bad card.
Without further ado, and with thanks to momcards for the card images, here's the review:
Heroes
Alia, Caller of Faith (haven)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/27-alia-mandeuse-de-la-foi.png
Rating: 4
The first thing to look at with heroes is their stats and Alia is middle of the road. 1/1/1 stats is baseline acceptible, although 2/0/1 or 2/1/0 would obviously be better, especially with the wolf captain change. The single point in magic is rarely going to be wasted, even in a creature/fortune deck (due to the power of radiant glory), but the 1 point in fortune is likely to be wasted if you want to build a might/magic deck which is a little bit awkward. She probably best lends herself to some sort of 4/1/3 or 4/1/4 deck which, in haven, probably means a retaliation synergy deck which isn't a bad thing as it's a strong archetype.
Next up is her spell schools and right off the bat things get interesting. Light school is expected for haven heroes, and is good because it grants access to dispel and a cheap lane-stacking punisher (suburst). Fire, though, is completely unexpected and indicates that Ubisoft no longer sees spell schools as linked to particular factions anymore (which I have to admit is slightly disappointing from a flavour perspective and has lead to what I would suggest are some questionable design decisions). Anyway, firebolt is an excellent spell to splash for in virtually any deck and, along with the change to seigfried's passive, might have represented an attempt by the developers to push down the power level of dark assassin as more heroes being able to firebolt means that that powerful little 2-drop is going to stick around even less often. The combination of the two spell schools opens up some interesting synergies, with word of light working well with both firebolt and the new spell heat wave to take out many enemy creatures.
Finally we get to her special ability, which is basically an admission by the developers that they messed up with Jezziel. While healing 3 damage from a creature isn't worth a card (which is the opportunity cost of using a hero's activated ability), the good half of divine intervention certainly can be worth a card or even multiple cards, particularly in the type of deck I see Alia working in. Prior to the expansion, seigfried retaliation was a decent deck type and it made good effect of his passive ability to increase the survivability of some very annoying to kill creatures like wolf praetorian and sun rider. Seigfried has now been nerfed to the point where I suspect he's effectively unusable, but I can see Alia's ability stepping into the gap and resetting (or even just threatening to) the health of a number of your already difficult-to kill creatures at a key time. The retaliation deck is essentially a combo deck which wants to grind out your opponent defensively in the early game and then get out a critical mass of creatures, drop a wolf justicar and truce of elrath to win the game out of nowhere. While Alia's ability is hugely expensive, and I suspect incorrect usage of it will often lose its controller the game, I can also see it being used once or twice per game to heal multiple creatures and establish that critical board position needed to make the follow up combo hit effective. I could be wrong, but I have high hopes for this hero.
Dhamiria, Caller of Madness (inferno)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/28-dhamiria-mandeuse-de-la-folie.png
Rating: 2
As with all of the new heroes, her stats are 1/1/1. Decent, but unexciting. And again, while the single point of magic is rarely going to be wasted in a might/fortune deck (succubus and lilim), there's not much incentive to splash 1 fortune in a might/magic deck so that limits her utility somewhat. The current inferno deck type which uses the might/fortune combination is an agressive pseudo-combo belias deck which hits hard early and finishes off with fortunes like hall of torment and tower of obvlivion, but Belias' special ability is much better suited to that type of deck than Dhamiria's is. Which means you'd probably need to build an entirely new decktype around her.
Moving to spell schools, we again see the breakdown of the concept of faction-alignment of spell schools as she has access to both fire and earth. Earth magic on an inferno hero makes zero flavour sense to me, and just seems completely random, but it does make for a pretty good combination for a controlling spell deck with both spell schools having a good variety of direct damage AOE spells. I'm not sure whether it's possible to build a magic/fortune combo deck along the lines of the Shaar OTK decks, without access to a game-winner like kat's grand finale, but that's the kind of option that this spell school combination opens up for inferno.
As for her special ability.... ugh. This is not what you want to be doing with 6 resources. Yes, this is pretty good against OTK and combo decks. But there's a LOT of hate available against combo/OTK decks now, if they can even survive the latest nerfs, and doing this against any non-combo deck just seems awful. Spending 6 mana to not affect the board in any way and to take out one, or if you're very lucky, two cards which your opponent's haven't spent any resources on is pretty pathetic. Twist of fate hardly sees any play and this is just going to be twist of fate most of the time, for three times the cost. Put it this way. Instead of spending 6 resources to take out (likely) one card from your opponents hand, you could spend one resource to add a card to your own hand. If the average quality of cards in your deck is so low as to make that a good trade then there's something very wrong with your deckbuilding skills.
Adar-Malik, Caller of Doom (necropolis)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/29-adar-malik-mandeur-de-la-fatalite.png
Rating: 3
1/1/1 again and all of the above comments about that combination apply here, although there is slightly more incentive to splash 1 fortune in a necropolis might/magic deck given the power of mass grave. So it's actually plausible that you could build an effective might/magic deck with this hero. If you build a might/fortune deck, you're likely to be doing something along the lines of recurring banshee shenanigans with all of the discard/recur/sacrifice necropolis fortunes, which becomes very interesting when you take into account his special ability.
And again with the faction-breaking spell school combination, this time it's dark and fire. Again, I feel like the developers have just randomly given these heroes fire magic as incidental hate against DA, but it's still nice to have. Dark is probably the second best spell school, and combining it with fire magic opens up the possibility of a pure controlling spell hero which aims to hit 6 magic for puppet master and armageddon, for the ultimate in creature-hate options. Realistically that's probably too expensive to work without stone shields to stall and earthquake/insect swarm to deal with early rushes (see: kal-azar), but it's a theoretical possibility.
Which takes us to Adar's special ability, which is intruiging. The effect is of course ridiculously expensive, and if you're just using it to recur random vampire knights and lamasu's you're doing it wrong. Remember, the opportunity cost here is to draw a random card for 1 resource and a random card from your deck should be better than a vanilla creature in your graveyard. Where things become interesting is when you start cheating the effect, with things like ariana's lair and altar of the spider goddess. It's a very late-game proposition here, but if you're re-buying the come into play ability of a banshee or atropos then you can start getting insane value from the recursion. There is already a fringe deck built around the synergies of some of these fortunes, and while fleshbane or nergal are both good heroes for that deck, Adar is a potential option. If OTK decks do completely leave the meta with the latest round of nerfs, turning the game into complete creature-on-creature combat, then that deck type could be fairly well positioned as it just dominates creature strategies. Adar's ability just grants additional redundancy to your main strategy here, in case you don't draw one of your other recursion cards, so I could see this being viable despite the extreme cost.
Zardoc, Caller of Valor (stronghold)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/31-zardoc-mandeur-de-la-bravoure.png
Rating: 3.5
Zardoc of course has the same stats as the others. Unlike the other factions mentioned so far, Stronghold might/fortune decks can quite happily avoid investing any points in magic, so that's a strike against him. On the plus side, might/magic stronghold decks will often put a point into fortune for sacrifical altar or blood shaman's hut, so I would suggest that he's most likely to be used in that style of deck.
Also, of course, he has a normal (earth) and a very abnormal (light) spell school, and again I find the bizzare flavour-break here somewhat off putting. However, it's a really good combination of spell schools and one that is completely unique in the game to date. Both schools have a good array of direct damage and utility spells, and sunburst's ability to punish lane stacking nicely complements earth magic's inability to do so. This combination seems powerful enough that it could probably support Zardoc as a decent hero on its own.
As for his ability, you don't want to use it often but it can set up some spectacular blowouts. Can you imagine combining this with a double striker? Even the threat of this being activated makes all of your opponent's deployment decisions difficult, and it gives you some almost guaranteed late game reach if you just need to get one of your guys to an open lane to finish off your opponent. This is exactly what you want in a 6-cost ability, something which always forces your opponent to respect it and which can decisively turn the tide of a creature battle or just end the game sometimes. All in all, I have high hopes for Zardoc and could see him with, say, 4/4/1 as a potential strong new stronghold archetype.
Noburu, Caller of Twilight (sanctuary)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/30-noboru-mandeur-du-crepuscule.png
Rating: 2
You know the deal, 1/1/1. It's virtually impossible to build a sanctuary deck without splashing into magic, so she can support a might/fortune deck with no issues, but sanctuary gives you no incentive to splash 1 fortune so that's a little awkward (it's a shame that ponder, er, hall of fortune, requires level 2 fortune).
There's no good sanctuary might/fortune deck that I'm aware of, so she'll require a new archetype to be built to be effective I would suggest. Perhaps a tempo deck with frozen maze and avalanche and the like; I can't really see it, but it's possible I guess.
Noburu has another unique and flavour-destroying spell school combination, with access to light and dark magic (seriously guys? i know flavour isn't everything, but this is just bizzare). The spell schools don't work fantastically well together. Dark magic doesn't have any good direct damage (I don't think this combination is going to make despair viable), so it can't be used to finish off creatures damaged by the low-powered light magic spells. And without being able to realistically kill anything of much value (unlike fire or earth), light magic doesn't provide good AOE to complement the single-target nature of dark magic. Both of the schools have some great individual spells, but they don't work together particularly well imo.
As for her ability.... meh. Outmaneuver on a stick is nice, and it'll sometimes win the game for you, but it's very, very rare that this will net you more than one card's worth of value which is what you're looking for in these very expensive hero abilities. Nothing about this hero screams playability to me, and I don't think the overall package quite works well enough to make for a viable hero option. Ishuma is almost strictly better I'm afraid.
Creatures
Neutral
Dark Wood Treant
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/156-treant-des-bois-obscurs.png
Rating: 2.5
Right off the bat we have a spicy little number. The most obvious use for this is as a pseudo stone-shield for combo and control decks. Assuming such decks can still exist in Herald, it does a decent job as a stall card. It will probably save you as much as a stone shield would, sometimes more, the difference being that your opponent gets to interract with it using creature removal/damage spells (which are typically blanked by control/combo decks) instead of dispels. I can imagine it seeing some play in those kind of decks, particularly those without access to earth magic, so it's worth keeping in mind in that respect.
The other way to use it is to take advantage of its towering ability to protect shooters. This is normally going to be a worse use, you set yourself up for strategies which punish lane stacking (eg. broken bridge) and as a creature it just doesn't do all that much. Perhaps a deck like Ariana could take advantage of both halves of the card, either using it to stall while setting up a board wipe, or to protect its powerful shooters/flyers like archlichs in the later game. All in all an interesting card which I imagine will see some play.
Greater Earth Elemental
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/160-elementaire-de-terre-superieur.png
Rating: 1
Yeah it's fat, but you can get a lot of fat bodies for 7 resources. The biggest threat to the playability of 7-drops isn't earthquake, it's town portal, soul reaver, puppet master, banshee, broken bridge etc. etc. so the "protection" here is basically irrelevant. If you're really in the market for a 7 resource creature, you can do worse (maybe) but he isn't going to convince me that anyone should be in the market for one in the first place.
Lesser Water Elemental
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/159-elementaire-d-eau-inferieur.png
Rating: 1
This has one purpose, which is to conclusively demonstrate that the cost of becoming a neutral creature, as opposed to a faction specific one, is almost exactly one resource (except Pao/Dark assassin. Because rarity). Succubus and neophite lich are good cards. This is not.
Magic peddler
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/158-colporteur-d-objets-magiques.png
Rating: 2
As we'll get to later on in the review, most of the unique spells are powerful enough that it actually might be worth running this guy sometimes. The dark magic one, particularly, is so amazing that using a couple of resources to dig for it (and stalling an attacker a little bit) could actually be worthwhile. Having said that, few decks have enough space in them to run a card like bard despite the huge power of atropos, so perhaps he can't make the cut, but I wouldn't rule it out.
Serpentfly
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/157-serpentaile.png
Rating: 1
Hooray, a neutral one drop. Oh, nevermind, it's awful. Move along.
Void-Keeper
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/161-gardien-du-vide.png
Rating: 2
a 2/1/5 shooter for 4 (and with a sometimes-annoying fortune requirement too) fails the vanilla test pretty badly, especially considering that many of the best creatures in the game cost 4 (archlich, tainted orc, lilim). So can his special ability make up for the loss of 3-4 stats from comparably costed creatures? Well, not really. Having creatures be exiled instead of going to the graveyard is only relevant against haven resurrection (rarely played), a couple of newer cards which have incidental graveyard recursion and some more dedicated necropolis recursion strategies. The existence of the latter style of deck means that he's nice to have around as a bullet for that strategy, but bullets don't tend to be very good cards to put in your deck (especially with no sideboard), and he's easy enough to remove that you almost certainly wouldn't do so even if such strategies do become part of the metagame.
Haven
Wolf Guard
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/141-garde-du-loup.png
Rating: 1
The fact that this not only has 0 base attack but can also never attack, even in a retaliation deck that swaps retaliation and attack power with Truce of Elrath, takes it from "possible niche role-player" to "unplayable junk". I mean, it is sort of an answer to dark assassin, but haven's not short of cheap answers to that card (elite praetorian, wolf captain, sunburst and even firebolt now) and so I'm fairly certain that you never want to play this card. even in a haven stall/combo deck you're probably better off with the neutral dark wood treant thanks to the extra 2 health points. That 2 points of retaliation damage isn't going to actually take out very much.
Griffin Battle Priest
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/146-pretre-de-bataille-du-griffon.png
Rating: 2.5
The stats on this epic are obviously underwhelming and unlike the last haven epic, they can't grow to something more acceptible. BUt you're not playing this priest for her attacking power, it's obviously her text that's of interest. Heal 2 is meh, especially on a 4-toughness creature as the mechanic forces you to bunch up and then she just gets taken out by fireball. Devoted Sister doesn't see play for a reason, and this is barely more threatening than that card. What is interesting is her ability to heal your hero, something no other permanent in the game has been able to do to date. With so little healing effects in the game, anything which can increase your hero's life total is worth a second look. If left unchecked, that heal over time is going to make it very difficult for a lot of decks to win especially given the inherent resilience of haven's creatures. But this ability doesn't directly win you the game, unlike caller of the voide for example, and having her out on the field is probably going to actively make it harder for you to win the game because she's inherently such a weak creature. There already exists another weak creature with a very powerful "over time" effect - blind brother - and he sees virtually no play, I suspect it's going to be the same with the battle priest, but the effect is so unique and potentially powerful that I could be wrong.
Griffin Knight
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/144-chevalier-du-griffon.png
Rating: 2.5
And at last we get the dreaded final piece in the "protection" trifecta. This is a seriously powerful hoser against necropolis decks, which rely on a plethora of strong, cheap, flyers to defend in the mid game. It also does some work against haven and, to a lesser extent, stronghold (ranaar harpy, blackskull goblin rider) while being almost dead against sanctuary and inferno. Like all of the other guards, though, having this out can make it actively harder for you to win the game just due to how weak of a creature it is. While the high HP is nice, 1 attack on a 3-resource creature isn't going to win you many games and stacking up on too many guards could see you with a deck that's annoying to attack against, but so un-threatening that you lose anyway. As with the 2-cost guards though, the key is to turn them into a threat with the retaliation combo (wolf justicar/truce of elrath) and this guy will quite possibly slot into that style of deck. It isn't an auto-include 4x by any means, but I can see it doing some work and it will certainly be nice to have as a meta option against necropolis decks in particular.
Chosen of Elrath
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/147-elu-d-elrath.png
Rating: 1
Well, the thing this guy has going for it is that he's hard to kill. But haven has lots of creatures which are hard to kill, at some point you have to worry about putting too many "hard to kill but not threatening" creatures in your deck, because you still need to find a way to actually win the game. 2 attack on a 4-cost creature doesn't cut it, and I'm unconvinced that the potential synergies are there to make this work in any type of deck.
Angel of Mercy
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/132-ange-de-la-compassion.png
Rating: 2
The value here cannot be ignored. A cantripping creature which re-buys one of your early drops has some merit. The problem is that a 2/4 for 4 resources is not worth a card, not even close. And two things compound the problems with this card too. First the fact that the return is random is very disappointing, because you're just as likely to hit a tithe collector as that early wolf captain. The second issue is that due to the fact that everyone can draw 2 cards per turn, you're far more likely to end games of MMDOC while you're resource constrained, not card constrained (ie you still have enough stuff in your hand to use up all your mana every turn). In a really long, grindy game, the angel can be sweet because she lets you use up resources that you otherwise would waste. But given how weak her stats are, she's more in gravedigger (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221526) than crypt angel (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23320) territory.
Griffin Mounted Spearman
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/143-lancier-a-dos-de-griffon.png
Rating: 2.5
Swift is a mean ability, it can punish all sorts of deployments and this spearman essentially blanks any creature of 2 or less health that your opponent might deploy. It also obviously works well in concert with a spread out board position of archers and back-line flyers, to double up and take down enemies wherever they are. Board position is where I see this guy being much weaker in practice than he is in theory, though. Haven loves its melee cratures, from guards, to wolf captains to lingering tithe collectors, their melee line tends to get pretty clogged up. However, the mounted spearman will only work really well if the melee line is relatively clear, otherwise there just won't be very good places for him to move around and take advantage of his special ability. In addition, deployment movement can have its own costs, eg. setting yourself up for an AOE or single line spell. Perhaps he'll be able to work in a deck that was built with a lot of flyers and archers, along with perhaps some additional synergies like bless, but I think it will take a bit of effort to make him good.
Griffin Marksman
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/142-tireur-d-elite-du-griffon.png
Rating: 2
At last a creature with > 2 attack! He's also at the most exciting casting cost for vanilla creatures, with some of the best-statted creatures in the game costing 4. Does he live up to the lofty standards set by he likes lilim and tainted orc? well, not really. Haven creatures frequently trade off a point or two of attack/defence in favour of a bit more retaliation which is unfortunate - I'd much rather have 2 extra health here than his 2 additional retaliation points compared to lilim. He's not terrible by any means, but I can't see him sneaking his way into a deck over other 4-cost options such as warrior seraph.
Immaculate glory
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/145-gloire-immaculee.png
Rating: 3
Now this is a serious 5-drop. Dark ward and counter-immunity are both great incentives to put a few more resources into a creature than you might normally be willing to, as it reduces the number of ways your opponent can punish you for making such a huge investment into a creature. His stats are decent, too, if somewhat unexciting. I like how his steep 2-magic requirement was balanced by a lower-than-curve might cost, so that shouldn't hold him back, the only question is whether a haven deck exists that plays both might and magic and doesn't just want to end the game before it gets around to casting 5 resource creatures.
Stronghold
Kitten Warrior
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/176-guerrier-au-chaton.png
Rating: 1
One of the most obvious things this game needs more of is good one drops. Doing so would be an important way to balance out the current disadvantage with going second. Unfortunately kitten warrior is "cute" not "good", and not actually cute either. The idea is that this is sacrifical fodder for your enrage creatures, you run it into a creature with at least one retaliation point, but whereas goblin warchanter is a great 1-drop to help you build up enrage counters, this is a one shot wonder that's not worth spending a card on. Getting enrage counters incidentally from sacrificing a creature with altar of sacrifice or a pao dying or something is nice, but it's not an effect that's worth spending a full card on.
Bramble Beast
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/170-bete-des-ronces.png
Rating: 2
This is an interesting creature. It's similar to the new neutral creature, dark wood treant, except that it trades 2 health for 2 retaliation and magic resistance. The concept of the card is basically a "stone shield on legs", ie a way to soak up some damage and stall until you do something big later in the game. The trouble with the bramble beast is that the anchored keyword, while nice against town portal, will actively work against it if your opponent isn't stacking lanes. Being able to simply dodge this guy and ignore it means that it's frequently going to soak up less than 5 health, whereas dark wood treant will almost always soak up at least 7. I think the disadvantage here outweighs the slight advantage, and it's probably a worse card than treant, although it does cost one resource less so it is pretty close.
Blackskull Centaur
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/172-centaure-crane-noir.png
Rating: 3
This guy does some work. Swift is an extremely powerful keyword, and particularly on a creature which is immune to retaliation. While 3 health is a serious knock against it (pao, insect swarm, sunburst), it synergises wonderfully with other stronghold melee creatures like tainted orc. This is probably slightly higher on the power curve than the quite-similar hellfire cerebus (which sees some play), it's slightly better because it can more easily move around to hide behind a melee creature, thereby avoiding death-by-pao.
War Oliphant
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/171-oliphant-de-guerre.png
Rating: 4
WOW! This has got to be vying for title of this set's "wolf captain", although at common it will no doubt inspire less rage-posting than a chase epic. This wouldn't look out of place much higher up the rarity tree, though, dark assassin shows that a highly-pushed vanilla creature can get be an epic on stats alone, and this little beast's stats are seriously pushed. It's the only 3-drop in the game with 7 health and is almost just better than lamasu, which is already one of the better 3 drops in the game (ditto Kappa). 7 health is a material difference to 6, DA + all sorts of things kills 6 health, a 3-attack creature in the ranged line kills 6 health, 2 insect swarms kill 6 health. 7 really is a big number. Another highly-pushed new 3-drop, untamed wrath, can be almost as annoying to kill but this is NOW one of the best 3 drops in the game, it demands respect.
Blackskull Spellsmasher
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/177-brise-sort-crane-noir.png
Rating: 2.5
Dispel on a stick is very interesting, especially given that most stronghold heroes don't actually have access to any dispels. His body is weak enough that you only play this if you want a dispel, and right now I don't think there's enough decks playing ongoing spells that you really need to do so, but it's certainly great to have this in the card pool and it could do some work if the effect is needed.
Blackskull Shredder
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/173-dechiqueteur-crane-noir.png
Rating: 3
I wasn't all that impressed when I first saw this guy, but after seeing him in action my initial scepticism was clearly unjustified. He's pretty close to extra copies of pao, and pao is already one of the best creatures in the game. Swift gives him a huge amount of additional play after the turn he comes down, and while he does die a little too easily, he's certainly more survivable than pao!
Bloodfrenzied Wyvern
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/174-vouivre-frenetique-sanguinaire.png
Rating: 2.5
It would be a lot easier to get excited about this 5-drop if stronghold didn't already have a few other good options in a slot that you don't really want to be playing too many creatures in (including the next creature on the list - blackskull crusher). While both blackskull clan warlord and blackskull crusher have one less health, the difference between 7 and 8 is nowhere near as big as that between 6 and 7. In the end, he's (almost) always going to be weaker on attack than the warlord, and easier to kill than crusher, so he probably won't find a place but he can do some SERIOUS work in finishing off your opponent in combination with an insect swarm, and can get out of hand quite easily. It's probably worth trying him out in a Kelthor deck, if he finds a home it's going to be there.
Blackskull Crusher
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/178-broyeur-crane-noir.png
Rating: 4
I don't think it's going out on a limb too much to suggest that this is the best non-unique 5 drop in the game. The only card which could probably challenge it is naga tide master/pearl priestess, but I honestly don't think it's all that close. "Enemy spell ward" is a shockingly powerful keyword, it's not too far off "indestructible" in MTG-parlance, except even indestructible creatures can be dealt with with toughness modifiers in that game. MTG has never printed an "indestructible hexproof" creature (sigarda is somewhat close, but dies to wraths), and that is almost how powerful enemy spell ward is. Unless an edict (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=27251) effect is printed in this game, this guy cannot be killed outside of combat damage, nergal poisoning or a couple of fortunes (one of which is unique, the other of which is a bounce). And he's not super-easy to deal with in combat either, his stats are respectable and you should be able to back him up with tricks to punish attempted blockers. The only thing keeping me from giving crusher a "5" rating is his cost, 5-drops are very much at the top of the curve, but there's almost no ways for your opponent to easily answer him (pao + double inner fire???) and I believe he will shape the metagame in the months to come.
Blackskull cyclops
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/175-cyclope-crane-noir.png
Rating: 2
Well this is a huge letdown after reviewing blackskull crusher. From a 5-drop which is immune to everything other than combat damage, we get a 6-drop which is immune to (some) combat damage. Combat damage is much easier to play around than spell damage though (because you have a good amount of information about it before deployment), and so it's much more powerful to be immune to spell than combat damage. This guy's really weak for a 6-drop and given the plethora of good strongold 5-drop options, I'd skip right past this guy, epic rarity or no.
With the full spoiler up, I thought it might be a good idea to do a complete card by card review. Every day for the next few days, I'll post up another batch of cards. I'll start today with heroes, neutral and haven creatures and move through the rest as I could be bothered.
I'm going to be using the rating scale of a certain well known writer from another TCG, although my reviews will unfortunately be less punny:
5.0: Format all-Star (pao, dark assassin). Probably would only include super-powerful neutral cards.
4.0: Format staple (firebolt, insect swarm, broken bridge, wolf captain). The sort of card you always need to be keeping in mind, or creatures which are so powerful that they warp the meta.
3.5: Good in multiple archetypes, but not a format staple (tainted orc, lilim, vampire knight, coral priestess, tithe collecter). These are standard, very powerful, creatures which almost always be included in decks that can play them, but aren't so powerful that they dictate the meta. Might also include some spells and fortunes, but probably they will be rated a straight 3 or 4 (or lower).
3.0: Archetype staple (stone shield, time jump, dreamweaver, wasteland, wolf justicar). Cards which are really good in a particular decktype, but need some synergies to get there.
2.5: Role-player in some decks, but not quite a staple. (Inner fire, goblin sharpshooter, plague zombie, centaur archer, demented, campfire). Cards you might put in your deck, but which aren't super exciting and which might get substituted for other options.
2.0: Niche card (naga tactician, dispels, purity, tree of truth, cosmic realignment). Most "counter" cards fall in this category, or just cards which require a lot of work to go right.
1.0: Bad card.
Without further ado, and with thanks to momcards for the card images, here's the review:
Heroes
Alia, Caller of Faith (haven)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/27-alia-mandeuse-de-la-foi.png
Rating: 4
The first thing to look at with heroes is their stats and Alia is middle of the road. 1/1/1 stats is baseline acceptible, although 2/0/1 or 2/1/0 would obviously be better, especially with the wolf captain change. The single point in magic is rarely going to be wasted, even in a creature/fortune deck (due to the power of radiant glory), but the 1 point in fortune is likely to be wasted if you want to build a might/magic deck which is a little bit awkward. She probably best lends herself to some sort of 4/1/3 or 4/1/4 deck which, in haven, probably means a retaliation synergy deck which isn't a bad thing as it's a strong archetype.
Next up is her spell schools and right off the bat things get interesting. Light school is expected for haven heroes, and is good because it grants access to dispel and a cheap lane-stacking punisher (suburst). Fire, though, is completely unexpected and indicates that Ubisoft no longer sees spell schools as linked to particular factions anymore (which I have to admit is slightly disappointing from a flavour perspective and has lead to what I would suggest are some questionable design decisions). Anyway, firebolt is an excellent spell to splash for in virtually any deck and, along with the change to seigfried's passive, might have represented an attempt by the developers to push down the power level of dark assassin as more heroes being able to firebolt means that that powerful little 2-drop is going to stick around even less often. The combination of the two spell schools opens up some interesting synergies, with word of light working well with both firebolt and the new spell heat wave to take out many enemy creatures.
Finally we get to her special ability, which is basically an admission by the developers that they messed up with Jezziel. While healing 3 damage from a creature isn't worth a card (which is the opportunity cost of using a hero's activated ability), the good half of divine intervention certainly can be worth a card or even multiple cards, particularly in the type of deck I see Alia working in. Prior to the expansion, seigfried retaliation was a decent deck type and it made good effect of his passive ability to increase the survivability of some very annoying to kill creatures like wolf praetorian and sun rider. Seigfried has now been nerfed to the point where I suspect he's effectively unusable, but I can see Alia's ability stepping into the gap and resetting (or even just threatening to) the health of a number of your already difficult-to kill creatures at a key time. The retaliation deck is essentially a combo deck which wants to grind out your opponent defensively in the early game and then get out a critical mass of creatures, drop a wolf justicar and truce of elrath to win the game out of nowhere. While Alia's ability is hugely expensive, and I suspect incorrect usage of it will often lose its controller the game, I can also see it being used once or twice per game to heal multiple creatures and establish that critical board position needed to make the follow up combo hit effective. I could be wrong, but I have high hopes for this hero.
Dhamiria, Caller of Madness (inferno)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/28-dhamiria-mandeuse-de-la-folie.png
Rating: 2
As with all of the new heroes, her stats are 1/1/1. Decent, but unexciting. And again, while the single point of magic is rarely going to be wasted in a might/fortune deck (succubus and lilim), there's not much incentive to splash 1 fortune in a might/magic deck so that limits her utility somewhat. The current inferno deck type which uses the might/fortune combination is an agressive pseudo-combo belias deck which hits hard early and finishes off with fortunes like hall of torment and tower of obvlivion, but Belias' special ability is much better suited to that type of deck than Dhamiria's is. Which means you'd probably need to build an entirely new decktype around her.
Moving to spell schools, we again see the breakdown of the concept of faction-alignment of spell schools as she has access to both fire and earth. Earth magic on an inferno hero makes zero flavour sense to me, and just seems completely random, but it does make for a pretty good combination for a controlling spell deck with both spell schools having a good variety of direct damage AOE spells. I'm not sure whether it's possible to build a magic/fortune combo deck along the lines of the Shaar OTK decks, without access to a game-winner like kat's grand finale, but that's the kind of option that this spell school combination opens up for inferno.
As for her special ability.... ugh. This is not what you want to be doing with 6 resources. Yes, this is pretty good against OTK and combo decks. But there's a LOT of hate available against combo/OTK decks now, if they can even survive the latest nerfs, and doing this against any non-combo deck just seems awful. Spending 6 mana to not affect the board in any way and to take out one, or if you're very lucky, two cards which your opponent's haven't spent any resources on is pretty pathetic. Twist of fate hardly sees any play and this is just going to be twist of fate most of the time, for three times the cost. Put it this way. Instead of spending 6 resources to take out (likely) one card from your opponents hand, you could spend one resource to add a card to your own hand. If the average quality of cards in your deck is so low as to make that a good trade then there's something very wrong with your deckbuilding skills.
Adar-Malik, Caller of Doom (necropolis)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/29-adar-malik-mandeur-de-la-fatalite.png
Rating: 3
1/1/1 again and all of the above comments about that combination apply here, although there is slightly more incentive to splash 1 fortune in a necropolis might/magic deck given the power of mass grave. So it's actually plausible that you could build an effective might/magic deck with this hero. If you build a might/fortune deck, you're likely to be doing something along the lines of recurring banshee shenanigans with all of the discard/recur/sacrifice necropolis fortunes, which becomes very interesting when you take into account his special ability.
And again with the faction-breaking spell school combination, this time it's dark and fire. Again, I feel like the developers have just randomly given these heroes fire magic as incidental hate against DA, but it's still nice to have. Dark is probably the second best spell school, and combining it with fire magic opens up the possibility of a pure controlling spell hero which aims to hit 6 magic for puppet master and armageddon, for the ultimate in creature-hate options. Realistically that's probably too expensive to work without stone shields to stall and earthquake/insect swarm to deal with early rushes (see: kal-azar), but it's a theoretical possibility.
Which takes us to Adar's special ability, which is intruiging. The effect is of course ridiculously expensive, and if you're just using it to recur random vampire knights and lamasu's you're doing it wrong. Remember, the opportunity cost here is to draw a random card for 1 resource and a random card from your deck should be better than a vanilla creature in your graveyard. Where things become interesting is when you start cheating the effect, with things like ariana's lair and altar of the spider goddess. It's a very late-game proposition here, but if you're re-buying the come into play ability of a banshee or atropos then you can start getting insane value from the recursion. There is already a fringe deck built around the synergies of some of these fortunes, and while fleshbane or nergal are both good heroes for that deck, Adar is a potential option. If OTK decks do completely leave the meta with the latest round of nerfs, turning the game into complete creature-on-creature combat, then that deck type could be fairly well positioned as it just dominates creature strategies. Adar's ability just grants additional redundancy to your main strategy here, in case you don't draw one of your other recursion cards, so I could see this being viable despite the extreme cost.
Zardoc, Caller of Valor (stronghold)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/31-zardoc-mandeur-de-la-bravoure.png
Rating: 3.5
Zardoc of course has the same stats as the others. Unlike the other factions mentioned so far, Stronghold might/fortune decks can quite happily avoid investing any points in magic, so that's a strike against him. On the plus side, might/magic stronghold decks will often put a point into fortune for sacrifical altar or blood shaman's hut, so I would suggest that he's most likely to be used in that style of deck.
Also, of course, he has a normal (earth) and a very abnormal (light) spell school, and again I find the bizzare flavour-break here somewhat off putting. However, it's a really good combination of spell schools and one that is completely unique in the game to date. Both schools have a good array of direct damage and utility spells, and sunburst's ability to punish lane stacking nicely complements earth magic's inability to do so. This combination seems powerful enough that it could probably support Zardoc as a decent hero on its own.
As for his ability, you don't want to use it often but it can set up some spectacular blowouts. Can you imagine combining this with a double striker? Even the threat of this being activated makes all of your opponent's deployment decisions difficult, and it gives you some almost guaranteed late game reach if you just need to get one of your guys to an open lane to finish off your opponent. This is exactly what you want in a 6-cost ability, something which always forces your opponent to respect it and which can decisively turn the tide of a creature battle or just end the game sometimes. All in all, I have high hopes for Zardoc and could see him with, say, 4/4/1 as a potential strong new stronghold archetype.
Noburu, Caller of Twilight (sanctuary)
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/heroes/large/us/30-noboru-mandeur-du-crepuscule.png
Rating: 2
You know the deal, 1/1/1. It's virtually impossible to build a sanctuary deck without splashing into magic, so she can support a might/fortune deck with no issues, but sanctuary gives you no incentive to splash 1 fortune so that's a little awkward (it's a shame that ponder, er, hall of fortune, requires level 2 fortune).
There's no good sanctuary might/fortune deck that I'm aware of, so she'll require a new archetype to be built to be effective I would suggest. Perhaps a tempo deck with frozen maze and avalanche and the like; I can't really see it, but it's possible I guess.
Noburu has another unique and flavour-destroying spell school combination, with access to light and dark magic (seriously guys? i know flavour isn't everything, but this is just bizzare). The spell schools don't work fantastically well together. Dark magic doesn't have any good direct damage (I don't think this combination is going to make despair viable), so it can't be used to finish off creatures damaged by the low-powered light magic spells. And without being able to realistically kill anything of much value (unlike fire or earth), light magic doesn't provide good AOE to complement the single-target nature of dark magic. Both of the schools have some great individual spells, but they don't work together particularly well imo.
As for her ability.... meh. Outmaneuver on a stick is nice, and it'll sometimes win the game for you, but it's very, very rare that this will net you more than one card's worth of value which is what you're looking for in these very expensive hero abilities. Nothing about this hero screams playability to me, and I don't think the overall package quite works well enough to make for a viable hero option. Ishuma is almost strictly better I'm afraid.
Creatures
Neutral
Dark Wood Treant
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/156-treant-des-bois-obscurs.png
Rating: 2.5
Right off the bat we have a spicy little number. The most obvious use for this is as a pseudo stone-shield for combo and control decks. Assuming such decks can still exist in Herald, it does a decent job as a stall card. It will probably save you as much as a stone shield would, sometimes more, the difference being that your opponent gets to interract with it using creature removal/damage spells (which are typically blanked by control/combo decks) instead of dispels. I can imagine it seeing some play in those kind of decks, particularly those without access to earth magic, so it's worth keeping in mind in that respect.
The other way to use it is to take advantage of its towering ability to protect shooters. This is normally going to be a worse use, you set yourself up for strategies which punish lane stacking (eg. broken bridge) and as a creature it just doesn't do all that much. Perhaps a deck like Ariana could take advantage of both halves of the card, either using it to stall while setting up a board wipe, or to protect its powerful shooters/flyers like archlichs in the later game. All in all an interesting card which I imagine will see some play.
Greater Earth Elemental
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/160-elementaire-de-terre-superieur.png
Rating: 1
Yeah it's fat, but you can get a lot of fat bodies for 7 resources. The biggest threat to the playability of 7-drops isn't earthquake, it's town portal, soul reaver, puppet master, banshee, broken bridge etc. etc. so the "protection" here is basically irrelevant. If you're really in the market for a 7 resource creature, you can do worse (maybe) but he isn't going to convince me that anyone should be in the market for one in the first place.
Lesser Water Elemental
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/159-elementaire-d-eau-inferieur.png
Rating: 1
This has one purpose, which is to conclusively demonstrate that the cost of becoming a neutral creature, as opposed to a faction specific one, is almost exactly one resource (except Pao/Dark assassin. Because rarity). Succubus and neophite lich are good cards. This is not.
Magic peddler
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/158-colporteur-d-objets-magiques.png
Rating: 2
As we'll get to later on in the review, most of the unique spells are powerful enough that it actually might be worth running this guy sometimes. The dark magic one, particularly, is so amazing that using a couple of resources to dig for it (and stalling an attacker a little bit) could actually be worthwhile. Having said that, few decks have enough space in them to run a card like bard despite the huge power of atropos, so perhaps he can't make the cut, but I wouldn't rule it out.
Serpentfly
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/157-serpentaile.png
Rating: 1
Hooray, a neutral one drop. Oh, nevermind, it's awful. Move along.
Void-Keeper
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/161-gardien-du-vide.png
Rating: 2
a 2/1/5 shooter for 4 (and with a sometimes-annoying fortune requirement too) fails the vanilla test pretty badly, especially considering that many of the best creatures in the game cost 4 (archlich, tainted orc, lilim). So can his special ability make up for the loss of 3-4 stats from comparably costed creatures? Well, not really. Having creatures be exiled instead of going to the graveyard is only relevant against haven resurrection (rarely played), a couple of newer cards which have incidental graveyard recursion and some more dedicated necropolis recursion strategies. The existence of the latter style of deck means that he's nice to have around as a bullet for that strategy, but bullets don't tend to be very good cards to put in your deck (especially with no sideboard), and he's easy enough to remove that you almost certainly wouldn't do so even if such strategies do become part of the metagame.
Haven
Wolf Guard
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/141-garde-du-loup.png
Rating: 1
The fact that this not only has 0 base attack but can also never attack, even in a retaliation deck that swaps retaliation and attack power with Truce of Elrath, takes it from "possible niche role-player" to "unplayable junk". I mean, it is sort of an answer to dark assassin, but haven's not short of cheap answers to that card (elite praetorian, wolf captain, sunburst and even firebolt now) and so I'm fairly certain that you never want to play this card. even in a haven stall/combo deck you're probably better off with the neutral dark wood treant thanks to the extra 2 health points. That 2 points of retaliation damage isn't going to actually take out very much.
Griffin Battle Priest
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/146-pretre-de-bataille-du-griffon.png
Rating: 2.5
The stats on this epic are obviously underwhelming and unlike the last haven epic, they can't grow to something more acceptible. BUt you're not playing this priest for her attacking power, it's obviously her text that's of interest. Heal 2 is meh, especially on a 4-toughness creature as the mechanic forces you to bunch up and then she just gets taken out by fireball. Devoted Sister doesn't see play for a reason, and this is barely more threatening than that card. What is interesting is her ability to heal your hero, something no other permanent in the game has been able to do to date. With so little healing effects in the game, anything which can increase your hero's life total is worth a second look. If left unchecked, that heal over time is going to make it very difficult for a lot of decks to win especially given the inherent resilience of haven's creatures. But this ability doesn't directly win you the game, unlike caller of the voide for example, and having her out on the field is probably going to actively make it harder for you to win the game because she's inherently such a weak creature. There already exists another weak creature with a very powerful "over time" effect - blind brother - and he sees virtually no play, I suspect it's going to be the same with the battle priest, but the effect is so unique and potentially powerful that I could be wrong.
Griffin Knight
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/144-chevalier-du-griffon.png
Rating: 2.5
And at last we get the dreaded final piece in the "protection" trifecta. This is a seriously powerful hoser against necropolis decks, which rely on a plethora of strong, cheap, flyers to defend in the mid game. It also does some work against haven and, to a lesser extent, stronghold (ranaar harpy, blackskull goblin rider) while being almost dead against sanctuary and inferno. Like all of the other guards, though, having this out can make it actively harder for you to win the game just due to how weak of a creature it is. While the high HP is nice, 1 attack on a 3-resource creature isn't going to win you many games and stacking up on too many guards could see you with a deck that's annoying to attack against, but so un-threatening that you lose anyway. As with the 2-cost guards though, the key is to turn them into a threat with the retaliation combo (wolf justicar/truce of elrath) and this guy will quite possibly slot into that style of deck. It isn't an auto-include 4x by any means, but I can see it doing some work and it will certainly be nice to have as a meta option against necropolis decks in particular.
Chosen of Elrath
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/147-elu-d-elrath.png
Rating: 1
Well, the thing this guy has going for it is that he's hard to kill. But haven has lots of creatures which are hard to kill, at some point you have to worry about putting too many "hard to kill but not threatening" creatures in your deck, because you still need to find a way to actually win the game. 2 attack on a 4-cost creature doesn't cut it, and I'm unconvinced that the potential synergies are there to make this work in any type of deck.
Angel of Mercy
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/132-ange-de-la-compassion.png
Rating: 2
The value here cannot be ignored. A cantripping creature which re-buys one of your early drops has some merit. The problem is that a 2/4 for 4 resources is not worth a card, not even close. And two things compound the problems with this card too. First the fact that the return is random is very disappointing, because you're just as likely to hit a tithe collector as that early wolf captain. The second issue is that due to the fact that everyone can draw 2 cards per turn, you're far more likely to end games of MMDOC while you're resource constrained, not card constrained (ie you still have enough stuff in your hand to use up all your mana every turn). In a really long, grindy game, the angel can be sweet because she lets you use up resources that you otherwise would waste. But given how weak her stats are, she's more in gravedigger (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221526) than crypt angel (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23320) territory.
Griffin Mounted Spearman
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/143-lancier-a-dos-de-griffon.png
Rating: 2.5
Swift is a mean ability, it can punish all sorts of deployments and this spearman essentially blanks any creature of 2 or less health that your opponent might deploy. It also obviously works well in concert with a spread out board position of archers and back-line flyers, to double up and take down enemies wherever they are. Board position is where I see this guy being much weaker in practice than he is in theory, though. Haven loves its melee cratures, from guards, to wolf captains to lingering tithe collectors, their melee line tends to get pretty clogged up. However, the mounted spearman will only work really well if the melee line is relatively clear, otherwise there just won't be very good places for him to move around and take advantage of his special ability. In addition, deployment movement can have its own costs, eg. setting yourself up for an AOE or single line spell. Perhaps he'll be able to work in a deck that was built with a lot of flyers and archers, along with perhaps some additional synergies like bless, but I think it will take a bit of effort to make him good.
Griffin Marksman
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/142-tireur-d-elite-du-griffon.png
Rating: 2
At last a creature with > 2 attack! He's also at the most exciting casting cost for vanilla creatures, with some of the best-statted creatures in the game costing 4. Does he live up to the lofty standards set by he likes lilim and tainted orc? well, not really. Haven creatures frequently trade off a point or two of attack/defence in favour of a bit more retaliation which is unfortunate - I'd much rather have 2 extra health here than his 2 additional retaliation points compared to lilim. He's not terrible by any means, but I can't see him sneaking his way into a deck over other 4-cost options such as warrior seraph.
Immaculate glory
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/145-gloire-immaculee.png
Rating: 3
Now this is a serious 5-drop. Dark ward and counter-immunity are both great incentives to put a few more resources into a creature than you might normally be willing to, as it reduces the number of ways your opponent can punish you for making such a huge investment into a creature. His stats are decent, too, if somewhat unexciting. I like how his steep 2-magic requirement was balanced by a lower-than-curve might cost, so that shouldn't hold him back, the only question is whether a haven deck exists that plays both might and magic and doesn't just want to end the game before it gets around to casting 5 resource creatures.
Stronghold
Kitten Warrior
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/176-guerrier-au-chaton.png
Rating: 1
One of the most obvious things this game needs more of is good one drops. Doing so would be an important way to balance out the current disadvantage with going second. Unfortunately kitten warrior is "cute" not "good", and not actually cute either. The idea is that this is sacrifical fodder for your enrage creatures, you run it into a creature with at least one retaliation point, but whereas goblin warchanter is a great 1-drop to help you build up enrage counters, this is a one shot wonder that's not worth spending a card on. Getting enrage counters incidentally from sacrificing a creature with altar of sacrifice or a pao dying or something is nice, but it's not an effect that's worth spending a full card on.
Bramble Beast
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/170-bete-des-ronces.png
Rating: 2
This is an interesting creature. It's similar to the new neutral creature, dark wood treant, except that it trades 2 health for 2 retaliation and magic resistance. The concept of the card is basically a "stone shield on legs", ie a way to soak up some damage and stall until you do something big later in the game. The trouble with the bramble beast is that the anchored keyword, while nice against town portal, will actively work against it if your opponent isn't stacking lanes. Being able to simply dodge this guy and ignore it means that it's frequently going to soak up less than 5 health, whereas dark wood treant will almost always soak up at least 7. I think the disadvantage here outweighs the slight advantage, and it's probably a worse card than treant, although it does cost one resource less so it is pretty close.
Blackskull Centaur
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/172-centaure-crane-noir.png
Rating: 3
This guy does some work. Swift is an extremely powerful keyword, and particularly on a creature which is immune to retaliation. While 3 health is a serious knock against it (pao, insect swarm, sunburst), it synergises wonderfully with other stronghold melee creatures like tainted orc. This is probably slightly higher on the power curve than the quite-similar hellfire cerebus (which sees some play), it's slightly better because it can more easily move around to hide behind a melee creature, thereby avoiding death-by-pao.
War Oliphant
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/171-oliphant-de-guerre.png
Rating: 4
WOW! This has got to be vying for title of this set's "wolf captain", although at common it will no doubt inspire less rage-posting than a chase epic. This wouldn't look out of place much higher up the rarity tree, though, dark assassin shows that a highly-pushed vanilla creature can get be an epic on stats alone, and this little beast's stats are seriously pushed. It's the only 3-drop in the game with 7 health and is almost just better than lamasu, which is already one of the better 3 drops in the game (ditto Kappa). 7 health is a material difference to 6, DA + all sorts of things kills 6 health, a 3-attack creature in the ranged line kills 6 health, 2 insect swarms kill 6 health. 7 really is a big number. Another highly-pushed new 3-drop, untamed wrath, can be almost as annoying to kill but this is NOW one of the best 3 drops in the game, it demands respect.
Blackskull Spellsmasher
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/177-brise-sort-crane-noir.png
Rating: 2.5
Dispel on a stick is very interesting, especially given that most stronghold heroes don't actually have access to any dispels. His body is weak enough that you only play this if you want a dispel, and right now I don't think there's enough decks playing ongoing spells that you really need to do so, but it's certainly great to have this in the card pool and it could do some work if the effect is needed.
Blackskull Shredder
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/173-dechiqueteur-crane-noir.png
Rating: 3
I wasn't all that impressed when I first saw this guy, but after seeing him in action my initial scepticism was clearly unjustified. He's pretty close to extra copies of pao, and pao is already one of the best creatures in the game. Swift gives him a huge amount of additional play after the turn he comes down, and while he does die a little too easily, he's certainly more survivable than pao!
Bloodfrenzied Wyvern
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/174-vouivre-frenetique-sanguinaire.png
Rating: 2.5
It would be a lot easier to get excited about this 5-drop if stronghold didn't already have a few other good options in a slot that you don't really want to be playing too many creatures in (including the next creature on the list - blackskull crusher). While both blackskull clan warlord and blackskull crusher have one less health, the difference between 7 and 8 is nowhere near as big as that between 6 and 7. In the end, he's (almost) always going to be weaker on attack than the warlord, and easier to kill than crusher, so he probably won't find a place but he can do some SERIOUS work in finishing off your opponent in combination with an insect swarm, and can get out of hand quite easily. It's probably worth trying him out in a Kelthor deck, if he finds a home it's going to be there.
Blackskull Crusher
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/178-broyeur-crane-noir.png
Rating: 4
I don't think it's going out on a limb too much to suggest that this is the best non-unique 5 drop in the game. The only card which could probably challenge it is naga tide master/pearl priestess, but I honestly don't think it's all that close. "Enemy spell ward" is a shockingly powerful keyword, it's not too far off "indestructible" in MTG-parlance, except even indestructible creatures can be dealt with with toughness modifiers in that game. MTG has never printed an "indestructible hexproof" creature (sigarda is somewhat close, but dies to wraths), and that is almost how powerful enemy spell ward is. Unless an edict (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=27251) effect is printed in this game, this guy cannot be killed outside of combat damage, nergal poisoning or a couple of fortunes (one of which is unique, the other of which is a bounce). And he's not super-easy to deal with in combat either, his stats are respectable and you should be able to back him up with tricks to punish attempted blockers. The only thing keeping me from giving crusher a "5" rating is his cost, 5-drops are very much at the top of the curve, but there's almost no ways for your opponent to easily answer him (pao + double inner fire???) and I believe he will shape the metagame in the months to come.
Blackskull cyclops
http://www.momcards.fr/template/images/cards/monsters/large/us/175-cyclope-crane-noir.png
Rating: 2
Well this is a huge letdown after reviewing blackskull crusher. From a 5-drop which is immune to everything other than combat damage, we get a 6-drop which is immune to (some) combat damage. Combat damage is much easier to play around than spell damage though (because you have a good amount of information about it before deployment), and so it's much more powerful to be immune to spell than combat damage. This guy's really weak for a 6-drop and given the plethora of good strongold 5-drop options, I'd skip right past this guy, epic rarity or no.