In Blizzard’s free online CCG Hearthstone, the last wing of the Scourge’s Necropolis Naxxramas opened on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. In the Frostwyrm Lair, Saphiron and Kel’Thuzad await the heroes of Hearthstone.

It has begun. On the night from Tuesday to Wednesday at 11:59 PM, the last wing in Naxxramas opened. After the Construct Quarter with four bosses, there are only two opponents left in the Frostwyrm Lair, who will unleash four cards. Let’s take a look at the bosses and the cards.

Saphiron and Kel’Thuzad: Is it cold in here or is it just me?

Update: This was speculation before the release of the last wing. For precise information, jump to the end of the article. We leave this unchanged so you can see how wrong we were.

Saphiron, the Ice Dragon, guards the access to his master here, as in the two WoW versions of Naxxramas for all time, forever, Amen. As a hero power, he can destroy all enemy minions that are not frozen for 2 mana. This ability remains unchanged in heroic mode. In normal mode, he has 30 health points, and in heroic mode, he has 45. Little is known about the course of the fight; apparently, a kind of trick fight is coming for the players. Many of the Naxxramas challenges are seen by the designers more as puzzles.

Kel’Thuzad, also a cat person and misanthrope in Hearthstone, has 30 health points in normal and 45 in heroic mode. Allegedly, his 8-mana hero power can take control of a randomly selected enemy minion. Because this ability is unusually expensive, he likely has a second hero power, Frost Blast, which he autocasts for 0 mana. It deals 2 damage to the hero and – hunters, warriors, rogues must be strong now – freezes the hero. But this is all not official yet. There is still hope. Hearthpwn attributes this ability to Saphiron. Since “Frost Blast” was one of Kel’Thuzad’s abilities in WoW, we rather suspect that the boss possesses the second hero ability and not his pet dragon.

As special cards, Kel’Thuzad has the nerubian guardians (3/3 for 4 mana or 5/5 in heroic). Little is still known about the fight. The leak that served us so well gave up after the patch last week. Kel’Thuzad has been tormenting the heroes of Hearthstone since they took their first steps in Naxxramas. It should therefore be a special delight to throw a few damage abilities “in his face,” as is beautifully put in Hearthstone language.

As a little joke: If a hunter summons their pet companion, they can expect a surprise in this fight. And if someone wants to be particularly clever, they might try to give the newly summoned minion taunt. Hearthstone knows its World of Warcraft lore.

The four new Hearthstone cards – The Slime is the star

Echo Slime, a 1/2 minion for 2 mana, whose battle cry brings an exact copy of itself into play at the end of its own turn. That would already be a decent card without dirty tricks, as you get two minions for just one slot that the opponent has to clear out first with tempo loss. It gets really nasty in decks with strong buffs, as with the Paladin, for example. Because the slime copies itself “exactly at that moment” and not with its base values. This means that some will face a nasty surprise in the early game when instead of a buffed opponent, which one can sweep off the board with a removal, suddenly two are standing there.

Shades of Naxxramas, a 2/2 minion for 3 mana, which is stealth and gets +1/+1 at the end of each of its own turns. Looks like a great idea until you realize that the opponent can wipe it off the table with any board clear. It’s certainly an interesting card, but it also takes a lot of tempo out of your own game. The later you draw it in a match, the weaker it becomes.

Kel’Thuzad, a 6/8 minion for 8 mana, who resurrects all friendly minions that died in the turn at the end of each round. Experts are not as thrilled about Kel’Thuzad as one might think because there are other cards in the price category that are “likely” or “equal” to winning a game. Kel’Thuzad is of course a strong card when you have it in hand and play it in a deck that has many minions. For 8 mana, you have to expect that from him, and he is vulnerable to removals. Even though 6/8 is definitely a big deal.

In the class challenges, this time it’s the Paladin (and still the only one left). He receives the 1-mana secret Vindicator. When one of your own minions dies, the secret gives another friendly minion +3/+2. A pretty average card. Certainly usable for 1 mana, appropriate for the playstyle of the Paladin, and should primarily be played when one has control of the board and can decide when the secret triggers – and preferably also which minion it hits. It definitely can’t make a big difference in every match, and it doesn’t have to for 1 mana. It’s rather about whether one finds space for the card in the deck.

Update 1:00 AM: The official English name of the last wing is not “Frostwyrm Lair,” but “The Summit of the Necropolis.” Mister Bigglesworth knows why.

Update 2:00 AM: Ah, okay, the first confirmed boss descriptions are coming in (applies to the heroic bosses).
Saphiron is as terrible in heroic as expected. Minions are only useful if they have Charge or passive abilities. He has already been defeated with extremely spell- and secret-heavy decks. One can hardly rely on minions here. (And Alexstrasza doesn’t work again.)

Kel’Thuzad starts the fight with 20 armor. When the armor is gone, he uses his chain hero power and takes over minions. Until then, he deals 3 damage with autocast and creates the freeze effect. The moment the armor is gone, he also brings the two nerubian minions onto the field with 5/5 stats. Against Kel, Zoo seems to have worked well to quickly get rid of the armor and not give him anything hard to take.

The Paladin class challenge is pretty cool. The echo slime introduces itself as a buff target here. Blizzard is already introducing the Paladin to its new favorite minion.

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Blizzard’s free online card game Hearthstone drives millions of players crazy. They ponder why they lose so often. Could it be because the opponent has the coin so frequently? A website has now analyzed statistics to find out whether it’s better to play first or to have the coin.

In the free-to-play CCG Hearthstone, players can either play first and gain a tempo advantage by placing the first card on the board and later always reach a new maximum amount of mana first (basically, you play with White), or they must react to the opponent. To balance this, there is a coin in hand, which can be played without mana cost, granting an additional mana point just for that turn. It’s not like chess, where one player plays first and the other is unlucky, but both players start with a different situation.

The question now: What is actually better? The answer: It depends on the deck. Not enough for you? Alright, then let’s go into detail.

Statistics date back to the Closed Beta

The site arstechnica has obsessively worked on finding a more precise answer to this question. Even the designers of Hearthstone seem to be preoccupied with this question. Multiple times, there have been statistics from Blizzard’s Ben Brode, who mentioned back in September last year, still in the Closed Beta, that it was approximately 4.4% better to play first than to hold the coin.

Among the best players, however, this effect dissipates; there, playing first is only 0.7% better – almost a balance. Even back then, it was evident that Priests and Mages at the highest level often win more when starting with the coin rather than playing first. This trend solidified over the months as the game evolved. However, according to Brode, the advantage is marginal.

Who benefits from the coin and who suffers?

Arstechnica didn’t want to rely solely on Blizzard’s statistics but analyzed tournaments among top players and evaluated the results.

While in the analyzed 219 games at the top level, the overall results remained almost balanced (50.2% to 49.8% for playing first), certain trends became apparent:

• Hunters, Druids, and Warlocks are stronger when they play first. 
• Rogues, Paladins, Mages, and Priests seem stronger when they have the coin. 
• Warriors and Shamans have closely matched values.

Hearthstone much fairer than League of Legends

Arstechnica acknowledges that the number of analyzed games is quite low to make generalized statements, so the results should be taken with caution. Some trends nonetheless emerged: It is evident that a Hunter, when rushing the opponent with their minions, can effectively use the tempo advantage. Meanwhile, the popular “Miracle Rogue” clearly appreciates the flexibility of the coin when the final attack is imminent and knows how to turn it (warning, pun) into victories.

However, when it comes to fairness, Hearthstone gets a good rating. In other games, the “playing first advantage” is much larger. In League of Legends, it is 30%. The team that gets to pick the first champion wins that much more often.

If you’re interested in more statistics and do not want to rely solely on your gut feeling: Here is a link to the statistical distribution of the individual card tiers in the booster packs. How likely is it to draw a legendary card? And how rare are the golden ones?

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