Desert Spear
Desert Spear is a 3 Mana Cost Common Hunter Weapon card from the Saviors of Uldum set!
Card Text
After your hero attacks, summon a 1/1 Locust with Rush.
Flavor Text
Goes on the right, next to the desert spoon.- Mana Cost: 3
- Attack: 1
- Durability: 3
- Crafting Cost: 40 / 400 (Golden)
- Arcane Dust Gained: 5 / 50 (Golden)
- Rarity: Common
- Class: Hunter
- Card Type: Weapon
- Set: Saviors of Uldum
- Mechanics: Summon
Desert Spear Additional Information
Locust Token:
Cards Relating to Desert Spear
| Locust Type: Minion - Cost: 1 - Attack: 1 - Health: 1 Rush |
I thought this card was trash before the release. But it s pretty good actually. I thought it was a nerf to hunter’s pack but it definitely makes the card better. I think it is even better than headhunter’s hatchet
Really slow for a midrange deck. Playing one of these in a brann deck seems meh because you’ll probably equip another weapon before you can take advantage of all this card’s value. 2/5
Hmm, Hatchet just seems like a better card to run. It too, works off of beast synergy and costs 1 mana less.
Whoops, forgot my rating again. 3/5
Makes hunters pack worse, that’s for sure
Don’t get what’s with the low stats you basically summon a springpaws lynx 3 times over 3 turns so you could combo with cards needing beast synergy. Also it can work well with bloodscalp strategist since if it discovers a spell with beast synergy or say a hunters mark it could be used in same turn without having to play another card. Another possibility is Carrion Drake seeing play since even if this is played and attacked on curve on turn 5 you could still attack 1 more time to have the 1 minion death to give it poisonous. Also could make an easy way to trigger wing blast to 1 Mana for a useful 4 Mana turn.
Basically this card has way more utility than it’s getting credit for to many people are looking at the dmg and the cost and ignoring the fact that there’s several Hunter cards that are supported by either getting a beast on the field or being able to have a minion die without spending additional Mana that turn to set up another cards condition.
The low rating of this card made me register for an account. I’m 100% with you. One of the keys to playing midrange hunter is resource management, which makes utility extra valuable. You don’t have to drop a beast on the board to play kill command for example, which just saves mana/resources. You can save your springpaw/lynx for the right moment. You have a way to immediate take advantage of animal companion/timber wolf. Sure Headhunter’s hatchet is also a “2/3” for one less mana, but it requires dropping a beast on turn 1 that you may not want to play (and may die) and doesn’t have the beast utility. The only downside I even see is the 3 mana spot being crowded in hunter, but that isn’t really a big deal given that it is 3 mana.
This card is conservatively a 3/5 and my intuition thinks it is more like a 4/5. But it is very good.
Welcome to the collection of commenters.
And like said that’s why I cant believe people are overlooking this card so much this has hatchet value for basically same cost if use to smack minions. 2/3 2 cost IF have a beast means a minimum of 3 Mana spent otherwise it’s a 2/2 weapon so no hatchet is not cheaper it just looks that way if you already have presence on the board. The arguments of not wanting to play this turn 3 because of cards like animal companion is also rather bad. Play animal companion on turn 4 when play this at 3 and you can take a 1/1 rush suicide it into something and pop off a wing blast with remaining Mana. Or you could you kill command to face or a second minion and wing blast the other. Add in the new reborn mechanic and those 2 extra 1/1 rush start to look very useful after turn play this. The fact that unless your opponent breaks the weapon you can hold off attacking until need the ping or have a synergy card is nice as well.
Overall this is exactly like some of cards had in past people say oh no we have a better version already this won’t see play till rotation. Next thing you know someone puts together a legendary deck using this and then everyone wants it. Also take note this is a COMMON card just like hatchet meaning it’s viable for budget Hunter decks which is one of the most popular decks for people just starting hearthstone.
Fantastic point on the reborn mechanic – I often forget about the forward looking aspects against the new cards but the reborn mechanic is the big new “thing.” If there is any popularity at all on the reborn mechanic, desert spear becomes that much more useful for its utility at cleaning up the 1 health reborn minions. And when you consider many of these reborn minions are going to have high attack value (or in case of a conjured sea giant into a divine shield 10/10, 10 attack), having the extra 1/1 rush is significantly more preferable to the chance you have to waste a kill command/marked shot/unleash the hounds.
Also will help deal with lackeys which are going to be even more abundant after this next expansion. Considering more often than not hatchet will be used to kill 1 health minions, the one 2 attack swing is less useful than a 1 attack swing and a 1/1 with rush in most situations.
Taking everything into account including new mechanics like reborn this is minimum 4/5 mech Hunter is only thing not fully supported but in that case this is the best weapon to run in that deck marked shot usually appears in that deck and with it you could grab a beast related spell that you would have had to ignore because of running a mech deck. Every other Hunter deck would have caused to play this because it synergizes with most likely half the cards in non mech decks. The hatchet is only better at going face and is handicapped by, like other cards, requiring a beast to get full value.
There is one other factor though there is a theory deck for an OTK Hunter deck however it would require several things one of which is that you cannot use unleash the hounds. This would likely be the card used to work as a semi replacement when attempting the OTK.
If want to know what it is use the new beast discount rhino to 0 cost play 2 animal companions and 4 unleash the beast. Zuljin for 10 Mana if lucky puts 6 beasts on your field drop rhino for 0 and then go face the minimum dmg is 30 but could hit for more with the 1 companion. 5 attack x4 , 4 attack x2 , 2 attack x1 = 30.
It’s on my list of deck types to attempt not to often can make a true OTK beast deck
This only makes sense in a Beast Hunter deck, for the synergy with Scavenging Hyena and Timber Wolf. Even there, it doesn’t make the cut because the 3-mana slot is already overcrowded, while the 2-mana slot is lacking for options, and one of the few good ones is Headhunter’s Hatchet, which directly competes with Desert Spear.
This is probably good enough to include in a Hunter Highlander deck, but is otherwise not quite good enough. 2/5
The other thing to consider though is this after each attack could give you a minion without spending Mana after first equip for pinging off one of the new reborn cards. That’s not taking into account beast synergy and minion death synergies. I’ve seen hunters drop 4 Mana for the wing blast why do that when can equip this attack for 1 dmg and just poke something for 1 dmg minion and get wing blast for 1 Mana. Same cost but more economical.
*EVil 12/7 hyena smiling in the background*
It’s probably alright for a Beast Hunter deck like the one I’m running now… only problem is that it comes just two sets after Headhunter’s Hatchet, and they both fill very similar roles. Spear costs one more, but you don’t already have to have a Beast in play to get full value from it.
If you happen to have something like Timber Wolf or Leokk out, the extra value you get from Spear is nice. Likewise synergy with Scavenging Hyena. Between that and being able to split your attack in a meta that contains several token decks I think this has the edge. Only big downside is that with Beast Hunter you very often want to be playing Animal Companion on turn 3, whereas there’s no equivalently dominant 2-drop, since Dire Wolf Alpha, Hyena and Henchclan Hogsteed are all more situational.
It’s a very nice card for current beast Hunter that deck runs kill command, dire frenzy, the 1/1 beast that gives attack to all beast, hyena. List goes on of cards useable with it in some scenarios it works better than the hatchet and is at least useable for 2/3 value even if don’t have beast on field. Will likely be played with spirit of lynx making this a 3 dmg for first 2 attacks. Likely going to see a lot more decks running a weapon breaker.
I had some hard thinking with this card, since I am one of the Rare Beast Hunter Decks, that actually uses Halazzi, and I gotta say that Desert Spear is basically a more Tempo Version of Halazzi. And yes, a 5 Mana 3/2 Isn’t really worth anything, but As a Beast Hunter who has played that deck over and over, and I have managed to reach from Rank 20 all the way to Rank 10, My Experience is that Halazzi can SOMETIMES work in your favour. Sometimes you’ll have an empty hand, and you get to throw out your Lynxes like they’re candy. Other times (More or less likey) You get to play your 5 Mana 3/2, and you get to make 3-4 1/1s and still somehow manage to lose. I really tried to give it a go for Halazii, but I think it’s finally time to retire my favourite memed upon Loa, and move on with Desert Spear as my new best friend.
It’s been nice knowing you Halazzi, But now I’m able to play an actual card. I’m gonna miss him though even if he was more useless than useful. I Picked Halazzi up because didn’t want to screw up my Board with Unleash the Hounds, for when I played Zul’Jin. I want a Board full of Wyverns and Animal Companions, and not 3 Mana 1/1s with Charge.
Overall, I have to give this a 5 Star purely for Beast hunter, but otherwise a general 4-star.
That was a touchy story 😀
I feel for your Halazzi story I ran him in a hunter deck for 1 reason only to refill my hand with “something” after ran out of cards which draw and generation was a big weakness for hunters when run a lot of cheap cards.
That was my intention too, but because Desert Spear can give you the pressure automatically, it’s like that Halazzi is now Jobless. 🙁 I’ll miss my friend, but his soul still lies within the Desert Spear. :’)
Don’t fear there’s still Hunters Pack that could give you a Halazzi from RNG. So there’s still hope you will get to play him again.
ooh yeah.
This is basically a 3 mana 2/3 weapon which can be made stronger with beast mechanics, for traditional hunter this is a pretty nice card for sure. Lynx shrine works pretty nicely with this too.
We haven’t seen the Hunter quest yet either, could be stronger but as of now a solid 3 star card.
I appreciate the dedication to flavor, but come on! A locust is a bug, not a beast!
That’s not a spear. This is a stick with woodworm on it.
Une more Weapon added to the pool for Hunter’s Pack. Not bad. 3/5.