Madness at the Darkmoon Faire is the upcoming expansion of the Year of the Phoenix. With most last expansions of rotations, it is unlikely many new archetypes dominate the meta, so when trying to figure out a place for the new reveals, that is important to keep in mind. Here are the five cards I’m looking forward to trying most when the Darkmoon Faire releases on November 17.
The upcoming Mage secret Rigged Faire Game shapes up to be one of the strongest new releases so far. The sheer strength and hidden benefits of the Rigged Faire Game makes it one of my favorite cards so far. While not taking damage for a turn may seem difficult at first glance, it will be easier to accomplish than you may think.
Even in games where you fall behind early on against an aggressive deck, there are opportunities to meet the no-damage requirement, whether that is by playing a threat that your opponent must deal with or a simple board freeze that might return to the Mage archetype. The other benefit of Rigged Faire Game is how people might overprioritize not activating the Rigged Faire Game secret. If your opponent focuses too much on dealing damage each turn, they might use their resources incorrectly or inefficiently, allowing you to catch up.
Day at the Faire is “consistency” transformed into a card. The obvious synergy for Day at the Faire is with Righteous Cause, which allows you to put 10/10 worth of stats into play for just four mana. It’s easy to see Day at the Faire find a place in the Broom Paladin deck for the coming months.
The new Paladin legendary card Lothraxion, the Redeemed brings the strength of Day at the Faire up even further. Lothraxion, the Redeemed secures relevance for Day at the Faire in the mid to late game, which before was the card's only possible weakness. I'm eager to see if the days of Token Paladin are coming back.
Revenant Rascal is one of the most interesting cards of the Darkmoon Faire from a design perspective. Throughout the history of Hearthstone, only a few cards have ever been able to affect the opponent’s hand or Mana. With Warlock being by far the worst class in the Scholomance Academy meta (after the nerf to Darkglare), it is unlikely this card ever sees the light of day in the Standard format.
That said, I’m happy to see the development team continue to experiment and push boundaries with new effects and keywords. Cards like Revenant Rascal get me very excited for the 2021 Hearthstone expansions and the further experiments we'll see in the future.
Ringmaster Whatley continues the “unlikely to impact anything, but happy to see it exist” theme of the Darkmoon Faire. At this point, it is tough to believe a “menagerie” type archetype can compete with the overwhelmingly popular Bomb Warrior deck. However, the Hearthstone community is often able to transform effects like these into powerful archetypes.
The best comparison for Ringmaster Whatley is the One Night in Karazhan card The Curator. Way back in the day, many people underrated The Curator. However, it became part of one of the most powerful (at the time) archetypes, Murloc Paladin. So while the card's implications aren’t obvious, there might be a way for this card to influence the Standard meta.
Horrendous Growth is probably highest on my “day one” craft list. Horrendous Growth is so simple, but its strength demands a place into so many different archetypes. Because the card only costs two mana, many decks naturally corrupt it throughout a game. The natural corrupting of the card, combined with Horrendous Growth’s flexibility, makes me optimistic it finds a place in the Darkmoon Faire Meta.
There are many ways to utilize Horrendous Growth's flexibility. Whether that is through combining it with a major board clearing effect like Warrior’s Brawl or by simply playing it in the mid-game as a fair-sized minion. Play it when you need it, or hold onto it for a huge turn. It’s just consistent, powerful, and flexible all at the same time.
Thanks to Arend from AceGameGuides for sharing his thoughts on Madness at the Darkmoon Faire! You can find more articles and content through the links below.
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