Hearthstone: Saviors of Uldum Set Review

It is time for another Hearthstone expansion! Rise of Shadows has been around now for a couple of months, during which we had some great events. Buffs (yes, BUFFS!!!), nerfs, free legendary cards and great single player content. The Hearthstone development team has been hitting it out of the park lately. But can they continue this trend? With the launch of Saviors of Uldum, it would appear that they can.

Who are the Saviors of Uldum?

As mentioned in the Rise of Shadows Set Review, the Year of the Dragon will have a year long story line. So Saviors of Uldum picks up where Rise of Shadows left off. The League of E.V.I.L have stolen Dalaran, and they are heading to Uldum. I am not exactly sure why they are heading to Uldum, but what I do know is that Uldum will need saving! And who better to help than the League of Explorers!

Brann, Sir Finley, Reno and Elise are some of my favorite Hearthstone characters. And they’re back! And true to form, they all bring the Reno mechanic, or Highlander mechanic as some have come to call it, back.

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I’m not going to lie. I haven’t been this excited for an expansion in a long time. I love the characters, I love the cards and enjoy the continuous story. This, along with the cadence of events and updates is making this one of the best years that Hearthstone has had yet. Hats off to Team 5. They really have been doing a stellar job this year.

New and old mechanics

As I mentioned, the Reno effect is back! For those that don’t know, this refers to a powerful effect that only triggers if your deck has no duplicates. All 4 of the League of Explorer characters have this type of build-around effect. The original Reno card was extremely powerful, and is still being played in Wild today, so even if these cards aren’t really impactful in standard, they should be an auto-include in Wild Reno decks.

But wait, there is more! Quests are back! Each class receives a class specific quest. Again, for the new players, Quests are 1 mana spells that always start in your opening hand. They define a certain requirement to be met, for example “Restore 15 health”, that then unlocks a powerful card or ability. Quests were first released in the Journey to Un’goro expansion, and they dominated the meta. This time around, Blizzard stated that they will make the quests easier to achieve, but the overall power level of the rewards will be significantly lower. In Saviors of Uldum, all of the quests will replace your here power with a new one.

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This expansion, as always, also brings a brand new mechanic called Reborn. What it basically means is that if a Reborn minion is killed, it will be brought back to life with 1 heath. This creates sticky boards, which should create a more minion focused meta.

Cards to look out for

This set brings about a number of very interesting cards. All of the quests, except maybe the Warlock, Warrior and Mage quest will definitely impact the meta. I foresee many Quest Shaman and Quest Druid decks, and even the Rogue quest could be worth while.

I don’t know whether or not the Saviors’ cards are actually that good. Brann and Reno seem to be the strongest, but whether or not their abilities are powerful enough to justify the no-duplicates deck restriction remains to be seen.

Aside from these, there are some really awesome cards to look out for. Below are some of the cards which I look forward to playing the most.

Zephrys the Great

My mind is absolutely blown by this card. This may be one of the most powerful cards yet, and it is definitely the most complex card ever added to the game.

When Zephrys is played, it analyses the board state. It looks at your minions, your opponents’ minions, heath totals etc. and it then lets you discover a card based on what it believes are the best 3 options from the basic and classic card sets. Need a Bloodlust for lethal? Zephrys will give it to you. Low on HP? Zephrys will give you heal options. If a large taunt minion is blocking you, guess what! Zephrys will give you the Black Knight as an option.

I am always reluctant to say this, but this card is a must craft! If you don’t believe me, just watch the video below.

Siamat

Siamat is a neutral legendary who I believe will almost be an auto-include in most decks. The flexibility of the card is amazing and you can tailor your choices to suite most board states. And, pairing this with, for example a Shudderwock or the Shaman quest definitely makes it a force to be reckoned with. This may well be the Zilliax for Saviors of Uldum.

King Phaoris

I must admit, I am somewhat on the fence with this card. It could be a great card, but it’s stats are quite bad for a 10 mana. However, if a arch-type like Big Spell Mage become a thing, this could be a great late game power spike.

Armagedillo

Yes, this is indeed a weaponized armadillo. With the addition of some great taunt cards such as Frightened Flunky, Tomb Warden, Bone Wraith and Khartut Defender, Armagedillo may be what Warrior needs to make Taunt Warrior a thing.

Vessina

This card just screams Aggro Overload Shaman. If you play this with Voltaic Burst you immediately have two 3/1 minions with rush. Add a Thunderhead to the mix and it becomes rather disgusting…

Meta Predictions

It seems that Quests will definitely see play. The Shaman and Druid quests are too powerful not to have a significant impact. Even the Priest and Rogue quest just seem like natural inclusions. You should be able to achieve the quests without to much trouble, and the payoff is significant.

Although I am not sure whether or not the Saviors’ abilities are strong enough, I think that the addition of Zephrys will be enough to make the arch-type feasible. If that is the case, we may see Highlander Hunter and Highlander Mage become a thing.

As much as it may irritate some players, I don’t think Control Warrior is going anywhere. Dr. Boom Mad Genius is still just too good, and the arch-type received some powerful additions.

And lastly, Aggro will still survive. I don’t know if Tip the Scales will see any play, but something about the card makes me uneasy. If they can find a way to cheat it out it could be rather broken. And even at 8 mana, it is still a very big swing turn. Either way, we will continue to see Murloc decks in the meta.

As always, you can head over to Hsreplay.net to check out how the meta is shaping up.

Conclusion

This is going to be one of the most impactful expansions in Hearthstone history. Listening to the Wild players and their opinions of the cards, it seems that these cards will also slot into the Wild format quite nicely. In my Rise of Shadows review, I said Blizzard needs more than just one great expansion to save Hearthstone, and it appears that they also realized this. The events during the previous expansion, the quick nerfs, buffs and now this great expansion has really blown new life into the game. Saviors of Uldum may well be the saviors of Hearthstone.