Celestial Emissary

Celestial Emissary Card

Celestial Emissary is a 2 Mana Cost Rare Mage Minion Elemental card from the The Boomsday Project set!

Card Text

Battlecry: Your next spell this turn has Spell Damage +2.

Flavor Text

Casting with the stars.

Celestial Emissary Card Review

While it’s too early to tell yet, Mage might be getting a Spell Damage support this expansion. With this card and Unexpected Results, it certainly seems that it’s one of the themes they’re pushing. So while I can only talk about the current synergies, and it’s still too early to make a full Spell Mage deck, that might be something Blizzard is aiming for this expansion. Those two cards already work quite well together – for 6 mana, you get a 2/1 body and two random 4-drops. Not bad at all.

It’s a very interesting card, and I absolutely love it. 2 mana for a 2/1 minion is weak, but you don’t play it for the body. This card is a bit like Bloodmage Thalnos – disposable card that boosts your spell. While Thalnos could theoretically survive, and you could use it with many spells, the idea is similar – you pay a small minion to boost your spells. Thalnos cycles, but this gets a bigger body and one extra spell damage. That +1 Spell Damage is very, very important. Having a cheap source of +2 Spell Damage, even if for one spell only, can turn even the smallest AoE cards into serious board clears. It’s probably not worth to use it with single target spells, although it might come handy if you’re 2 damage off lethal.

It works pretty well with any kind of AoE. Boosting Flamestrike from 4 to 6 damage or Blizzard from 2 to 4 damage is pretty big. But it works best with small AoEs, such as Arcane Explosion. This + AE is 4 mana for a 2/1 body and 3 AoE damage. That can really shut down some Aggro decks’ early development. I believe that if the archetype based around Spell Damage will pop out, it will mostly play those cheaper spells that benefit from Spell Damage most. Because in case of Flamestrike, +2 Spell Damage gives you +50% damage. In case of Blizzard, +100%. But in case of Arcane Explosion, it’s a massive +200%.

Outside of the Spell Damage Mage that doesn’t exist yet, another deck that could potentially utilize this is Big Spell Mage. The deck runs 8 AoE clears in total, making extra Spell Damage very useful in certain situations. Outside of the Dragon's Fury 7 damage high-rolls, its AoEs are often too small to clear some board. For example, opponent flooding the entire board with 5-6 health minions. Flamestrike is not enough, and you have to either count on a lucky Dragon’s Fury roll or play Blizzard first and then Flamestrike next turn (which is obviously not the most optimal play). With this card, you could just clear the entire board with a single spell. Will it be useful? Well, that mostly depends on the meta – if people will run lots of cards that are just out of range of the AoEs, then it might be. Additional upside is that the 2/1 body can sometimes be pinged in the late game (e.g. Celestial Emissary + Blizzard + ping), producing a Water Elemental with Frost Lich Jaina.

I like this card, it doesn’t seem over the top, but probably good enough to warrant some play. Right now it’s like a 6/10 in Big Spell Mage, but it would obviously be higher in Spell Damage Mage.

Card rating: 6/10, but probably 8/10 if Spell Damage Mage gets more cards

Leave a Reply

35 Comments

  1. Revan
    August 7, 2018 at 8:21 am

    Can’t find the card? How do I obtain this card?

  2. Piggy
    July 29, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    Is that actually a Bloodborne reference?

  3. Bjenssen
    July 27, 2018 at 5:24 am

    I made a spell damage mage deck, think it could be pretty good.
    Leave your thoughts here:
    http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/spell-damage-mage/

  4. OMEGALUL
    July 25, 2018 at 8:50 am

    this is the only good card ive seen so far

  5. Beachloop
    July 24, 2018 at 4:54 pm

    I can’t tell if people are liking or disliking this card but here’s my 2 cents. Everyone remember evolved kobold? No one thought it would be good. In fact it wasn’t very good. But it was so much better than people thought. I think this card could flop, but I also think it could be a deck defining card for burn mage. Playing 2 of these then playing 2 cinderstorms or something would be nuts. Anyways, I hope it’ll be cool.

    • Jonnymeerkat
      July 25, 2018 at 7:20 am

      1. Lol that would be one of the weakest ways to use this card.

      2. The second cinderstorm doesn’t play into the synergy, as only the first spell would be boosted.

      • Beachloop
        July 25, 2018 at 11:02 am

        Shit I didn’t it’s only one spell… In that case I’m pretty sure this card is worthless

  6. minti
    July 24, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Well for starters at least they are trying to push spell dmg a bit. i really enjoyed playing spell dmg mage. turning your arcane explosions into 2 mana flamestrikes is not bad at all. Not shure why is the need for the spell dmg to be battlecry. It can just have spell dmg +2 and replace thalnos. Thalnos wil lstill be viable but he wil lhave a competition this tiem around.

    • Nachtlicht
      July 24, 2018 at 4:09 pm

      Bro, freeze mage used to include evolved kobold (whatever it was, 4 mana garbage) in their deck for an otk. A 2 mana permanent version would be broken beyond believe

  7. Jed
    July 24, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    I don’t think it’s quite good enough. Won’t be useful enough to make the cut
    2/5

  8. Amethonys
    July 24, 2018 at 11:08 am

    I’d rather just run thalnos.

  9. Jirwin
    July 24, 2018 at 9:33 am

    to be honest i think this is one of the most overrated cards so far (apart from astromancer) , probably wont make it in bigspell because its too tight, elemental mage/elemental hand mage don’t really have many spells that benefit from 2 spell damage. tempo mage could make it work but i don’t think that warrants a 4 star rating. having 2 copies only adds 4 damage to the deck and 2/1’s are very weak after turn 1/2. the damage may not even be going to the face because of missiles being inn-accurate.

  10. mrB
    July 24, 2018 at 5:58 am

    Very Powerful with the new mage legendary an for example in the tempo mage the secret with deal 6 damage. 4,5/5

    • GameDJJD
      July 24, 2018 at 6:25 am

      Nope, it’s not working with the secret, read the card effect again.

      • Killy
        July 24, 2018 at 12:31 pm

        Well with this wording you can really say if it works or not with the secret.

        • Bast
          July 24, 2018 at 2:31 pm

          Yes you can, the card does this as a battlecry effect and it says “this turn” so no, doesn’t work with secrets.

    • Jirwin
      July 24, 2018 at 9:34 am

      8 3 card combo mana in tempo mage? that doesn’t seem like it warrants a 5/5

  11. Ben
    July 24, 2018 at 5:58 am

    i like the fact it is an elemental, you can boost an spell + activate next spell elemental effects

  12. Soup And Salad
    July 24, 2018 at 5:33 am

    Depending on the situation, adding two damage to a burn spell for an extra two mana can easily be good for Tempo Mage decks, especially if the format is lacking burn spells, but that’s exactly what this card is: situational.

    This does seem to want to be comboed with Unexpected Results, but that makes that card into six mana summon two four cost minions, which is better than its default form. However, it’s still too slow to really use in a Tempo style mage and this card is too small to make it worth using in Control styled mages.

  13. SupHypUlt
    July 24, 2018 at 5:33 am

    good for boosting AoE damage

  14. GlosuuLang
    July 24, 2018 at 5:30 am

    So obvious comparison is Kobold Geomancer. Same mana cost, one less health, get one extra Spell Damage now and lose all your Spell Damage later if the minion survives. So, in general, and in the early game, this is definitely worse than Geomancer. Early game spells like Arcane Missiles or Frostbolt don’t get THAT much better with an extra Spell Damage. This does have some niche uses though. It makes Arcane Blast AOE MUCH more powerful in turn 4. Then again, you need two subpar cards for this, whereas Priest can do it with Duskbreaker and leave a 3/3 body behind, Sure, Duskbreaker is OP, but the point stands. The BETTER use is with the new card Unexpected Results. Turn 6 drop this + that card, get a 2/1 (worth less than 1 mana) plus two 4-drops, so for 6 mana you get a board that costs 7.5 mana on average (summoning two random 4-drops is not 8 mana, but 7 mana, since you lose the battlecry value many, many times). So it’s decent. But probably not powerful enough for Constructed. Rating this 2/5 stars, will see experimentation with Unexpected Results, and deemed not powerful enough, that’s my guess.

    • Dan Pound
      July 24, 2018 at 5:35 am

      I think people are underrating the flexibility of this card. This can be used with board clears as you said. Or with the new experimental labs card to create a decent board presence. And you failed to mention the elemental tag with could have an impact in mage. Could even fit nicely into a tempo Luna deck with small spells and cheap elementals.

      3.5/5

      • Dan Pound
        July 24, 2018 at 5:36 am

        *unexpected results

      • GlosuuLang
        July 24, 2018 at 5:45 am

        Maybe you’re right. Having a 6-damage Flamestrike or 4-damage Blizzard can actually be very good. Some people here have suggested including one copy in BSM. I do feel BSM is a pretty tight list, though, so this card needs to be good enough on average to warrant inclusion there. For Tempo I don’t think this is good enough by any means. But hey, I thought Cinderstorm would suck when reviewing Witchwood cards, and then it turned out to be surprisingly very strong (especially with all those Paladins around). I would honestly be happy to be wrong, but I still believe it’s a 2 star card.

        • italic
          July 24, 2018 at 3:05 pm

          Keep in mind that this minion can be turned into a water ele by DK hero power, i think its worth slotting 1 copy of it in BSM

  15. DyingHawk
    July 24, 2018 at 5:13 am

    I hope people don’t judge this based on unexpected results, unexpected results is so bad playing this with that card is basically throwing this card away. I think that this card is very powerful, in tempo mage this could be a one of if taunts continue to persist. But I think the real application is in big spell mage to inch up that dragons fury or flamestrike to wipe out the board, definitely a one of in big spell mage, maybe a two of.

    • Dan Pound
      July 24, 2018 at 5:23 am

      I dont know. This with unexpected results would be 6 mana 2/1, 4/4, 4/4, discard a card, on average. That certainly isnt breaking the game but would fit nicely in a tempo spell damage mage with the Luna draw card.

  16. NimmerNeko
    July 24, 2018 at 5:09 am

    That Bloodborne Reference. I liked those goobheads. Lets hope it gets a fitting flavor text. Looking at you Bonfire Elemental.

  17. Tricklas
    July 24, 2018 at 5:07 am

    U never wanna Play this. instead Play frostbolt or any other cheap spell making 2 dmg. ist more flexible and this Body is a joke at all

    • Stonekeep - Site Admin
      July 24, 2018 at 5:23 am

      If we’re talking about single target, then yeah, it’s probably better to just play a damage spell instead. But this works much better with AoE damage – e.g. Arcane Explosion suddenly becomes a 3 AoE damage, Flamestrike deals 6 etc. We also have one non-damage card synergizing with Spell Damage in this expansion (Unexpected Results), but we might get more.

      • Dan Pound
        July 24, 2018 at 5:30 am

        Unfortunately unexpected results has been confirmed as the only card like that in Boomsday. But I could see it as a new mechanic in a later expansion.

      • Tricklas
        July 24, 2018 at 5:52 am

        i think it’s much better to Play Blizzard or Dragons fury directly instead of hoping to Combo e.g arcane Explosion. With unexpected Results your right but isn’t tuskarr fishermen still the better Card cause yaeh u have 1 spdmg less but countinous and not just for 1 spell. Furthermore u can drop the Body on turn 2.
        To unexpected results: if thats the only use for this Card i think there are much better 2 Card Combos u can make and ist definetly not worth.

        • InfinityMinusOne
          July 24, 2018 at 7:04 am

          Dropping Tuskarr Fisherman on T2 requires you to have dropped another creature on T1 in order to get the buff. Not to mention that (in the case of board wipes) there’s a good chance that you won’t be casting any spells that need the damage until several turns after you play it. This gives your opponent plenty opportunity to kill whatever small creature you put Spell Damage on.

          Not to mention that, in this case, the 1 toughness would likely be a boon for decks that contain Frost Lich Jaina. Not only can you ping the card to get a Water Elemental (unlike Tuskarr Fisherman), but the card itself is also an Elemental and as such will have Lifesteal after you play Frost Lich Jaina. All in all I like this card and think it would be great in BSM, but the deck is tight on spots if I’m correct, especially with the new 7-drop that was spoiled earlier today.