Hearthstone’s music-themed expansion, Festival of Legends, comes with some real superstar cards. And with the set rotation happening, the meta has been thrown into chaos, allowing a disproportionate number of them to see play.
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If you are looking for some direction in amidst the mosh pit created by the Festival, here are several cards you’ll definitely want to include in your decks. And even if you don’t, you’ll certainly be seeing plenty of them on ladder, so it’s best you familiarize yourself with their ins and outs.
10Instrument Tech
Instrument Tech is a decent card in Standard, helping Pirate Rogue decks find Swordfish, a weapon that is basically the sole reason to play the deck. In Wild, though, Instrument Tech can truly shine. When played in Druid, it can tutor for Twig of the World Tree — a weapon that instantly gives you ten mana when destroyed. Then, the second Tech can find a different weapon you may play to destroy the Twig immediately.
This strategy was possible before, but Instrument Tech gives it exceptional consistency. You would think the Hearthstone team will do something about that eventually, but for now Instrument Tech is a real terror in Wild. Regardless, so long as there are powerful weapons to find, the card is going to have a potential place in the meta.
9Tony, King Of Piracy
Switching decks with your opponent is the type of mechanic that is ripe for shenanigans. Played by himself, Tony is just a meme, but when used in consort with other cards, he can be exceptionally powerful. For example, The Jailer destroys your own deck, allowing Tony to remove all of your opponent’s resources. The combo is particularly good in Druid, with its many methods of mana-cheating.
Assuming your opponent doesn’t have any hand disruption tools, the strategy is basically a free winagainst control decksthat don’t have a way to kill you before you can enact it. And while you will sometimes have your day ruined by Theotar, the Mad Duke or Patchwerk, any card that can instantly win the game is worth considering.
8Baritone Imp
Festival of Legends introduced a series of Warlock cards that cause you to take Fatigue damage, then give you a bonus based on the amount of damage. Every card in this group is powerful, but Baritone Imp is the one that really ties them together.
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That’s because the other cards' effects aren’t especially strong when played when you only have one Fatigue. On the other hand, paying two mana for a 3/3 is already a solid deal, allowing you to get the chain of Fatigue-based minions going. And Baritone Imp will only grow as the game continues, making it a solid play at all stages of the game (unless its effect kills you, of course).
7Arcanite Ripper
Arcanite Ripper is a pun on the classic Warrior weapon, Arcanite Reaper. However, it is far more of a defensive tool than the outright beatstick that is its namesake. It has decent base stats, but the real benefit here is in the Deathrattle. Delayed healing generally isn’t as good as immediate healing, but the minion Arcanite Reaper can provide continuous healing if it survives.
And growing that minion is easier than it might sound. Assuming you use the Ripper to clear a minion, your health will naturally go down, and Blood Death Knight has many other methods for gaining health. Even at its best, this card isn’t exactly game-winning, but the weapon is perfect for helping control decks stall during the early turns with board control and healing, allowing them to reach their real power cards.
6Arrow Smith
Arrow Smith is a payoff card for a deck that runs a lot of cheap spells. And Hunter got some perfect tools for that sort of strategy this expansion in Bunch of Bananas and Barrel of Monkeys. These cards are cheap and, more importantly, can be cast multiple times.
One damage isn’t much, but when combined with these new options and other low-mana spells, Arrow Smith can clear small boards without too much trouble. And once the board is empty, it will start chipping away at your opponent’s face.
5E.T.C., Band Manager
E.T.C., Band Manager is the free Legendary every player got before Festival of Legends launched, and it’s pretty good. There are often cards you consider including in your deck, but eventually reject because they aren’t of any use in certain matchups.
A good example is hand disruption to counter combo decks, which is largely dead against aggro or midrange. E.T.C. lets you still access those cards, but only when you need them. It’s the sort of versatile tool many different decks will find a place for.
4Love Everlasting
As everyone knows, mana cheating is exceptionally powerful in Hearthstone. When played early in the game, Love Everlasting allows you to cheat two mana every turn so long as you have spells to play. The card also has fantastic synergy with Sister Svalna, which guarantees you a spell to cast every turn.
Of course, a card like this is worse if you draw it later in the game, especially if you find yourself in a topdeck situation, but non-aggro decks generally try to avoid ending up in that scenario. At its best, Love Everlasting can provide so much mana reduction you’ll start wondering if you queued up a Druid deck on accident.
3Halveria Darkraven
Picture a scenario: you have a few minions on board already, and your opponent has at least one. That happens in most Hearthstone games, and in that case, Halveria Darkraven is an extremely dangerous card, allowing you to buff your own board while clearing your opponent’s. She becomes even stronger when combined with other powerful Demon Hunter cards that summon multiple rush minions.
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This type of strategy effectively punishes your opponent for having minions, but many decks simply can’t avoid playing them. The main deck Halveria has seen play in so far, Outcast Demon Hunter, has already been nerfed. However, Halveria wasn’t touched, so she should still see play.
2Frequency Oscillator
The Mech-focused Keyword Magnetic returned inthe Year of the Wolf Core Set, and several Mech decks have arisen as a result, including Mech Mage and a variant of aggro Paladin. But one card has helped them dominate: Frequency Oscillator. Highly reminiscent of the Goblins vs Gnomes card Mechwarper, Frequency Oscillator is another reminder that mana cheating is always going to be powerful in Hearthstone.
Unlike Mechwarper, Frequency Oscillator’s effect can only trigger once, but it comes at a cheaper price. It allows your early game to flow far smoother, creating explosive turns even the toughest control deck will struggle to recover from.
1Disco Maul
Disco Maul is the sort of card most experienced players clocked as a powerhouse from a mile away. Even playing a single minion makes it decent, but Disco Maul really shines in decks that already wanted to aggressively spam minions onto the board.
Conveniently, Aggro Paladin was a strong deck before Festival of Legends released, and it didn’t lose much in the rotation. It can easily play four or five minions in the first few turns, which creates some truly disgusting power swings with the Disco Maul. In fewer words, Disco Maul is a two-mana card that can win you the game. Good luck competing with that.
