Hearthstone’s latest mini-set, Return to Naxxramus, is a callback to the game’s first adventure, Curse of Naxxramus, which was released all the way back in 2014. It contains a number of references to the original, as well as including multiple mechanics from previous sets.
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The mini-set also came with many powerful new spells. Most of them fit solidly into already powerful archetypes, so you’ll be seeing them frequently on the Hearthstone ladder. Here are ten Return to Naxxramus spells that you should consider including in your next deck.
10Faithful Companions
The peak potential of Faithful Companions is easy to see. Summoning a pair of Beasts on turn ten can deal massive damage to your opponent with cards like King Krush, or dominate the board with something like Mountain Bear. There will be many times when that sort of swing wins the game on the spot.
The trouble is, waiting until ten mana is extremely slow. Recent variants of Beast Hunter have generally relied on getting large Beasts out quickly, rather than on a combo of some kind. As a result, Faithful Companions may not find a home.
9Plague Eruption
Dealing three damage to the entire board for three mana is an effective board clear early in the game. The trouble is, you need to discard a card before turn three if you want that to happen, and discard isn’t a particularly strong mechanic.
Even so, in the worst case, deal two to the entire board isn’t that terrible. Volcanic Potion was a card with exactly that effect, although the cards in the game have gotten much stronger since it was around. If you are running a Discard package in your control or combo Warlock deck, Plague Eruption might be worth testing.
8Cannibalize
Control Priest is the sort of deck that always seems to hang around the lower tiers of the meta, and Cannibalize is a natural fit for its gameplan. In a deck where you are trying to kill everything that plays and survive into the late game, destroying a minion and restoring your health for four mana sounds ideal.
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And you’ll get a decent amount of healing out of it as well, since you will usually be targeting a big minion with the spell. The fact that Cannibalize can also heal your other minions is just an added bonus.
7Cold Storage
In a vacuum, Cold Storage looks like a powerful card. Stalling your opponent and gaining value is a lot to get for one mana. Unfortunately, it is also Wind Chill but worse, most of the time. For those who are unfamiliar, Wind Chill is another one-mana Shaman spell. It also Freezes an enemy minion, and it draws a card.
Drawing a card from your own deck will almost always be better than getting one from your opponent (presumably there’s a reason you put them in there in the first place). Cold Storage is definitely strong, but it probably won’t see much play unless you want two one-mana Freeze effects.
6Zombeeees!!!
Zombeeees!!! is very similar to another Hunter Secret, Snipe, which deals four damage to the next minion your opponent plays. However, Zombeeees!!! is better than Snipe in almost every scenario. If your opponent is expecting the Snipe, they’ll try to play around it with a small minion. Zombeeees!!! punishes them for doing so by leaving you with a board presence.
However, being better than Snipe will only get you so far, since it doesn’t see any amount of consistent play. Still,a Secret packageusually ends up finding a way into one Hunter deck or another, and Zombeeees!!! could be one of the better options.
5Ransack
Thief Rogue was obliterated by nerfs after recent patches, but Ransack might be enough to make you consider playing it anyway. Dealing four damage for zero mana is obviously exceptional, and in a Thief Rogue Deck you should be able to do that with relative consistency. And thanks to Rogue’s Combo mechanic, any zero mana card can find value, even if it only deals one damage.
If Thief Rogue was still a top-tier deck, Ransack would be higher on this list, but it’s still a strong card in its own right. If you enjoyed previous versions of the deck, give Ransack a try.
4Mind Sear
Aggro Priest is a relatively niche deck, but Mind Sear fits it so perfectly that it could push it into relevance. The card gives you the ability to fight for the board while damaging your opponent’s face at the same time.
That extra bit of damage can be the difference between victory and defeat, especially in aggro mirror matches, where protecting your own life total can really matter. Not every player will appreciate the sort of all-out aggression Mind Sear offers, but you can’t deny its effectiveness.
3Life From Death
Did someone say one mana draw three? Any card with the potential to reach that level of power is worth taking a look at. Life From Death’s ability is conditional, of course, but there are many options for meeting it. In more control-focused decks, you can use cards like Scale of Onyxia to summon a bunch of minions all at once and fill Life From Death’sInfuse requirementimmediately, but it will probably see more use in aggressive, token-based decks.
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They play enough small minions to trigger Infuse naturally, and that sort of deck can always use more refill. Life From Death will still feel bad if you draw it late in the game after you’ve already lost the board, although at that point you might be willing to pay six mana for a Hail Mary chance at winning.
2Nofin’s Imp-ossible
Longtime Hearthstone players will be familiar with Soul of the Forest, a card that has seen intermittent play in Token Druid decks. For four mana, it gives your minions a Deathrattle that will summon a 2/2 Treant.
If you are playing a Demon orMurloc-focusedWarlock deck, Nofin’s Imp-ossible is just a better version of that card. It gives you a better effect, since the Implocs it summons will synergize with your deck, and it costs half as much. Demon and Murloc Warlock decks have been powerful recently, and Nofin’s Imp-ossible can slot right into them.
1Blazing Transmutation
Evolve Shaman was already a top-tier deck before this expansion, and Blazing Transmutation has the ability to make it oppressive. Evolving your minions is a great way to cheat stats in the early game, but there was always the possibility that you could miss; rolling a bad minion could put you at a severe disadvantage.
Blazing Transmutation gives increased consistency, both in the sense that having more evolve cards means you are more likely to draw one early on, and in that the evolves it gives you will be more likely to hit something good. It also doesn’t hurt that this mini-set also introduced a powerful new ten-cost minion, Thaddius, Monstrosity, for Blazing Transmutation to turn your minions into.
