Meanwhile, Warriors get another spell to play with.
A pair of epics from the upcoming set Whispers of the Old Gods were revealed recently: Blood of The Ancient One, a neutral minion, and the Warrior spell Blood Warriors. While both of these cards carry powerful effects, their usability in constructed is questionable at best.
Blood of The Ancient One, a 9/9 for nine mana, has the ability to merge with a second copy of itself at the end of the player's turn and form The Ancient One, a 30/30 minion which is the strongest token Hearthstone has ever seen. If it sticks, it would be capable of one-hitting any class which can't protect itself with armor or Immunity effects and as such, it represents an immediate threat that needs to be dealt with.
Unfortunately, since the merging effect occurs at the end of the player's turn, the opponent has an entire turn to get rid of the 30/30 (or just outright win the game), most likely by casting hard removal. Furthermore, the nine mana cost on Blood of The Ancient One prohibits fancy combos outside of extreme outliers, such as comboing [card]Aviana[/card] with The Coin or [card]Innervate[/card] in order to play two Bloods of The Ancient One in the same turn. And even in that case, it might be argued that if you control two 9/9s at the same time, you are already winning the game even without a 30/30 minion on your side of the field.
Blood Warriors, a three mana Warrior spell, appears to be a hybrid of [card]Blood Rage[/card] and [card]Echo of Medivh[/card], albeit a weaker version of both spells. The fact that the minions it copies need to be wounded makes it harder to set up than [card]Echo of Medivh[/card], while the exclusion of the player himself means [card]Battle Rage[/card] will provide more card advantage when played, at a lower cost no less.
Still, the card could prove useful. While [card]Battle Rage[/card] is better for pure advantage, Blood Warriors doesn't draw from the player's deck and thus doesn't drive him further towards fatigue. Secondly, the cards generated by Blood Warriors make for extra [card]Elise Starseeker[/card] fodder, which could prove beneficial in long control matches as well.
How do you like the new cards? Do you think you'll ever manage to summon The Ancient One? Let us know in the poll!
You can follow the reveal of the new expansion with our Whispers of the Old Gods full card list here.
