Witch’s Apprentice

Witch’s Apprentice Card

Witch’s Apprentice is a 1 Mana Cost Common Shaman Minion Beast card from the The Witchwood set!

Card Text

Taunt Battlecry: Add a random Shaman spell to your hand.

Flavor Text

Is she a frog that became a witch, or a witch that became a frog?

Witch’s Apprentice Card Review

It’s another card like Babbling Book in Mage or Swashburglar in Rogue. Those two have seen quite a lot of play, so this one might also do, right? Well, it MIGHT, but I think that the two cards I’ve mentioned are significantly more powerful.

First of all, the stats. You often drop those minions in the early game, especially on Turn 1. I can’t stress out how much better 1/1 stats are than 0/1 in the early game. 1/1 minion can actually trade into something, this just stops some damage (usually 1-2) and dies. Taunt is probably better in the mid/late game, and it has synergy with Flametongue Totem but against Aggro decks those first turns are significantly more important. Taking down their own 1-drop saves you tons of health and can be a difference between winning and losing a game. This can’t do that.

Another thing is card it gives you. Shaman spells… aren’t exactly the best ones. In terms of power of the Battlecry, it’s about on the level of Swashburglar – it often gives you something useless/weak in your deck. The best example would be Ice Fishing in a deck with no Murlocs, but other cards like Primal Talismans, Bloodlust, Ancestral Healing, Totemic Might, Windfury, Cryostasis etc. can also be very situational or useless (remember that you’re most likely playing this in a slower deck without big board). Swashburglar, however, was played for two more reasons – it was a Pirate for the sake of synergies with Patches the Pirate/Southsea Captain AND it was a cheap Combo activator. This one doesn’t really get extra synergies – Beast has no synergy with Shaman and cheap minions don’t really do much. Well, there is a synergy with the new Shaman Hero, but later about that.

Overall, I can see this being played, but that’s mostly because Shaman doesn’t have many other early game options. Definitely not in a faster/more tempo-oriented deck, because it would prefer a better 1-drop like Fire Fly. But if Control Shaman will be a thing, this might be slotted into it from the lack of better options. Still, overall it’s rather average.

Card rating: 4/10

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20 Comments

  1. Aaron Slack
    March 31, 2018 at 10:30 am

    I think this card is pretty rad, It’s a one cost taunt that can help save your face a lot of damage from a late game enemy board without costing you a card like other cheap taunts do (e.g. target dummy and Goldshire footman). I’d compare it to Stonehill defender which has proven quite good.

    • jimbly
      March 31, 2018 at 12:29 pm

      With one health it probably won’t save you from a lot of damage. The card does nothing to save you damage from Mage or Druid because of their hero powers.

      • Aaron Slack
        April 2, 2018 at 1:05 pm

        good point, I hadn’t considered druid hero power, but at least it only costs one. I guess I’ll have to see how it plays in the Witchwood meta

  2. Auroki
    March 27, 2018 at 2:44 am

    BEHOLD
    The Paveling Frog

  3. justwhy
    March 26, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    this is not even murloc ?

  4. Threather
    March 26, 2018 at 4:48 pm

    Stonehill discover for shaman, it is a nice option especially after Hagatha. Too bad Thing from Below is rotating out so we won’t see much stonehilling.

    I doubt the card will see play by itself, but it is a fun card that might pop up once in a while from stonehill if control shaman becomes a thing.

    • SliceAndDice
      March 27, 2018 at 3:09 am

      I think Stonehill will still see play in some Shaman decks. Definitely Elemental, if for no other reason than its ability to generate an Al’Akir.

      As for this frog… I don’t know, maybe? The problem is Shaman spells are so variable, and there’ll still be junk like Cryostasis that could get tossed out from this. On the whole, I’d say in almost any circumstance where this would be useful, Wax Elemental gets the job done better.

  5. Thrombin
    March 26, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    I think this could be pretty good. 1 mana card draw is sweet and a taunt can protect a bigger minion. Flametongue token can buff any 1 drop, as was mentioned, but the fact that this gives taunt means it can protect the flametongue at the same time. Not so good against the ping classes but forcing a hero power to clear it can be a good thing in itself in the early game. While they’re pinging they’re not adding to the board.

  6. Tank
    March 26, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    I understand this card is probably shite but the flavor is quite amusing. Shaman gets a 1 mana 0/1, mage has a 1/1 for the same cost, both having basically the same effect, shaman has hex which transforms a minion into a 0/1 with taunt whilst mage has polymorph which transforms a minion into a 1/1. Well played Ben Brode, well played..

  7. Soup And Salad
    March 26, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    The card this will generate will usually be better than a 1/2, so on turn 1 this will usually be okay. It’s far from a terrible card, and it can go well with Flametongue Totem but so do most 1 drops.

    If aggro Token Shaman is still possible after Evolve rotates out, this will be part of it.

  8. serjohn
    March 26, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    babbling book kills a 1 drop , this is useless

    • BeerWizard
      March 26, 2018 at 1:38 pm

      If the control/combo mage decks running babbling book could trade out 1 attack for taunt, I’m pretty sure they would because the card would become relevant beyond turn 1.

      In before videos of streamers having their deathwing get taunt blocked by a 0/1 frog.

  9. TokyoSanchez
    March 26, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    The flavour of this card is brilliant. The hexxed frog goes off and tries to become a witch, and you can think of the random card it generates as a reckless accident from trying to create a potion or something.

    As for playability, maybe but probably not. 0 attack is fucking terrible, but a battlecry instead of a deathrattle puts it above cards like the crystalline oracle, especially now that shit like n’zoth is rolling out. It’ll be a fun deck to try out, especially with Hagatha, but competitively probably not. Shaman needs tons of help and this, and even Hagatha, probably isn’t enough.

  10. Elzein
    March 26, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    I see no reason to play this card instead of many other one-drops like Fire Fly

  11. Teou
    March 26, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    More random cards…..

    • bruce
      March 26, 2018 at 5:18 pm

      This game has been known as Rngstone for a long time now… hearthstone is gone 🙁

  12. Crapcrack
    March 26, 2018 at 11:41 am

    This+Hagatha lul