The Old Gods are making their return in the latest Hearthstone expansion. Their effects are even more insidious and chaotic than ever before.
The Darkmoon Faire is perhaps one of the creepiest and eeriest places from World of Warcraft. After all, many rumors and theories surround this place. It is all the more interesting that the Faire is now getting its own expansion in Hearthstone, which also focuses on the Old Gods. They were actually all part of the card game, but over the years have rotated out of the game. Now the four Old Gods are returning. They will likely be the centerpiece of many new decks, as their effects are absolutely overwhelming.
C’Thun the Shattered – The Exodia Card from Hearthstone
C’Thun was once known for dealing an extreme amount of damage through Battlecry, randomly distributed among all enemies. This is also the case with “C’Thun the Shattered”. However, you cannot play this Old God immediately. At the start of the game, he shatters into four pieces that you must draw from your deck and use. These are essentially four individual spells, each costing 5 mana – specifically:
- Body of C’Thun: Summons a Body of C’Thun with 6/6 and Taunt.
- Eye of C’Thun: Deals 7 damage, distributed among random enemies.
- Heart of C’Thun: Deals 3 damage to all minions.
- Gut of C’Thun: Destroys a minion.
If you manage to play all 4 pieces and then fish C’Thun out of your deck, you will have the Old God for 10 mana with a body of 6/6. With Battlecry, he deals a whopping 30 damage, distributed among random enemies. If the opponent has no minions on the board, this could result in an immediate victory. But even with minions, this could be an extremely potent finisher.
Thus, Hearthstone essentially has an “Exodia” card, like the one from the game “Yu-Gi-Oh!”. So, an extremely powerful minion that must first be assembled from pieces to unleash its full power. This is exactly what the flavor text of C’Thun refers to: “My grandfather’s deck has no pathetic cards!” This is a quote from the series.
Y’Shaarj the Defiler
The Old God Y’Shaarj is likely to create interesting decks as he utilizes the new Corruption mechanic. Corruption essentially ensures that a card in your hand becomes more powerful when you play another card that is more expensive. Thus, a 4/4 minion with Rush for 5 mana turns into an 8/8 minion with Rush for 5 mana.
Y’Shaarj the Defiler has impressive stats of 10/10 for 10 mana, but his Battlecry makes him even more dangerous. It ensures that you get copies of all corrupted cards you have played in this game into your hand. As if that wasn’t enough, these corrupted cards cost 0 mana during this turn. You can flood the board with lots of effects or minions.
Whether Y’Shaarj is truly that powerful remains to be seen, as few Corruption cards are known so far. It appears, however, that this Old God is likely to cause quite a bit of chaos.
Fate Lord Yogg-Saron – Our Lord and Savior
Yogg-Saron was one of the most popular yet hated cards of its time. He was seen as the personification of RNG, or chance, in Hearthstone. After all, he cast a vast amount of random spells on random targets. Anyone who played Yogg-Saron did not expect a planned victory but rather relied on the chance god Yogg-Saron to be merciful.
This is why there were quite a few memes and just fun decks. Yogg-Saron was repeatedly referred to here as “Lord and Savior”, the only one who understood the cosmic truth. It was a joke aimed to tempt other players to include Yogg-Saron in their own decks, only to see how he would defeat the player with pyroblasts to their own face. A small cult of somewhat crazy players who had a lot of fun.
Now this “Lord and Savior” is back as Fate Lord Yogg-Saron. For 10 mana, he has stats of 7/5 and an interesting Battlecry: Spin the Wheel of Yogg-Saron when you have cast 10 spells in this game.
The “Wheel of Yogg-Saron” is a luck wheel with 6 different effects that can trigger when the wheel stops at the corresponding spot.
- Curse of Flesh: Fills the board with random minions, then grants your Rush. (19% chance)
- Devouring Hunger: Destroys all other minions. Gain their attack and health. (19% chance)
- Hand of Fate: Fills your hand with random spells. They cost 0 mana this turn. (19% chance)
- Mind-Render’s Glasses: Take control of 3 random enemy minions. (19% chance)
- Riddle Box: Cast a random spell for each spell you have cast in this game. Targets are chosen at random. (19% chance)
- Rod of Blasting: Cast Pyroblast on random targets until a player has won. (5% chance)
It is already clear that this card will drive some players insane. But those who trust in the master will surely win when they hurl Pyroblasts around.
N’Zoth, God of the Depths
Although N’Zoth has just passed away in World of Warcraft, he too returns in Hearthstone. Anyone who includes him in their deck should prepare to bring along as many different minion types as possible.
N’Zoth himself is a 10-mana minion with stats of 5/7. His Battlecry ensures that you resurrect one minion of each friendly minion type that has died in this game.
So, if your deck is as colorful as possible, N’Zoth can resurrect a minion from each category:
- Dragons
- Mechs
- Beasts
- Elementals
- Demons
- Murlocs
- Pirates
- Totems
The maximum here is six different minions, as then the board (along with N’Zoth) is filled. So think carefully about which minions you take, as it’s likely you’ll want to use them a second time.
The Old Gods are back and more powerful than ever before. Are you excited to build decks with them? Or do these effects bother you instead?
