Hex Lord Malacrass

Hex Lord Malacrass Card

Hex Lord Malacrass is a 8 Mana Cost Legendary Mage Minion card from the Rastakhan's Rumble set!

Card Text

Battlecry: Add a copy of your opening hand to your hand (except this card).

Flavor Text

Extremely awkward cousin of Hex Lord Malaclass.

Hex Lord Malacrass Card Review

This is a really interesting effect and a reason why I like Hearthstone – effects like that are impossible in paper card games, and aren’t very popular in other digital ones. Yet HS tries to experiment with stuff like that all the time.

Your starting hand is your post-mulligan hand. 3 cards if you’re going first, 4 cards if you’re going second. So this card is basically an 8 mana 5/5 that draws you 3-4 cards (technically it can draw 2 cards if it’s in your opening hand AND you go first, but that won’t be the case often). Or even better – it doesn’t DRAW them, it GENERATES them. That’s a big deal in matchup where fatigue is a big deal, but you want to have as much value as possible (e.g. Big Spell Mage). That’s a really solid value generator on paper. The question is, however, does Mage need it?

Faster Mage decks definitely don’t, it’s way too slow. But maybe Control Mage of sorts? Like Big Spell Mage? The thing is, even though you want to mulligan for a cheaper cards, in a deck like that you will still end up with some biggest stuff in your hand most of the time, which you wouldn’t mind doubling at all.

It’s also a great card in slow Mage decks that are going for the hand synergies (AstromancerMeteorologist), since it fills your hand quite nicely.

The deck I would see it fitting most is Reno Mage in the Wild. The deck doesn’t mind more value, and you often mulligan for cards like Reno Jackson or Kazakus, and getting second copies of those is something you would just love.

So all in all, it will depend on how greedy Mage decks can get and whether they will need more value generators or not. Because this is an AMAZING value generator for a slower deck – puts some tempo on the board, gives you a bunch of cards and generates them instead of drawing. I would not play it over The Lich King. But maybe over Sindragosa? Sindragosa is better after Frost Lich Jaina, but definitely worse value-wise before her. The card might not see play right now, but the rotation will take a lot of high value, late game plays Mage currently has, so it might actually shine then.

Card rating: 5/10 right now because Mage has other good late game options, but might be better when they rotate out

Leave a Reply

27 Comments

  1. Hawk819
    November 26, 2018 at 4:09 pm

    This card totally depends on one’s opening hand. So choose carefully what one discards in the mulligan.

  2. Grimm1605
    November 10, 2018 at 1:54 am

    I feel this is a ultimate infestation for quest mage. It’s the one of copy of cable tome you used to play plus 3 mana get a 5/5. Yes at first glance it looks slow but in a deck that’s cycling through your deck assimbling your combo and ticking off your quest this helps put you over the top and finish it while giving you more control even if still RNG vs cabal with the random spells cause you control what you put in your deck and you have the chance to influence what your opening hand will be and double up the value when you play this. Could be a sleeper card of the set along with yet to be spoiled mage cards or could be a cute tech card for quest mage die hards

  3. Robo
    November 7, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    Hmm, maybe it’s just me, as everyone else seems to be missing it here…but the first thing I thought of was OP for Quest Mage.

    8 mana 5/5…okay, 5 of that mana for a 5/5, not great…but the other 3 mana? Draw 3/4 (spells) that didn’t start in your deck. If using quest mage, that completes 50%-66% of your quest immediately when those spells are played. Play mostly spells/freeze mage type spells, and you’ve got a possible two turn time walk! That’s insane. (Time walk, aka MtG card that reads : take another turn after this one).

    Pair this with sorcerer’s apprentice(s), and you can easily setup a huge swing/win combo. Think: card draw, freeze effects, AOE, and combo kill with Antonidis/other.

    • carth
      November 29, 2018 at 10:39 pm

      You also automatically get another copy of the quest so, if you need more turns for a super degenerate combo, you could potentially get 2 copies of Time walk

  4. NIGHTxBLADE
    November 3, 2018 at 1:12 am

    Wild op here ok

    • Owosomo
      November 3, 2018 at 4:00 am

      This with quest 🙂

      • Murloc!
        November 5, 2018 at 12:02 pm

        Yes, maybe the murloc quest might actully become real scary now. Can finnsih two in one turn.

  5. Soup And Salad
    November 2, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    While I would have rather Mage’s Legendary cards for one set have nothing to do with drawing or producing cards for the first time in more than a year, it is at least nice to see they’re all different in some way.

    If anything, this is the first one that can readily be played in both Tempo Mage decks and slower Mage decks albeit with a different purpose in each. The latter would use this to get a third or fourth copy of something like a frostbolt or another low cost damage spell to finish off their opponent while the latter would use it as a value generation method that doesn’t dig themselves closer to fatigue.

    It will find a home somewhere, but where ever that home is, it probably won’t mind cutting it if the pilot just doesn’t have the dust for it.

    • Nickname23
      November 3, 2018 at 6:40 am

      Well put. In faster Mage decks, the interference with Aluneth could hurt a bit, too.

  6. TheRealBaker
    November 2, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    I feel like this card could be interesting in general, but nothing too crazy indeed. Of course this is a control mage card and I see it in the big spell mage archetype and in the big hand only minions mage archetype. Both of those really need good refills like this one (maybe the big hand mage could remove some draw tool to make space for this legg) and in general getting cards that you already played is solid. Of course we are too early to rate it perfectly, but I don’t see how can this card become something to really worry about, but just a nice value legg like a sindragosa for example.

  7. Piterno
    November 2, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    Control mage-type card, as Big Spell Mage rotates out in 4 months. It seems a little overcosted, but I suppose you could use it in a minion mage to give yourself your opener back, or copy sorcerer’s apprentices?

    2.5/5. Will see some memeing before it finds its place as a tier 3-4 deck.

  8. ShaneLo
    November 2, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    Draw 3 cards (5 mana) + 5/4 (4 mana) is about 9 mana worth and it bundles the body with the draw. 4/5 pretty good value card

  9. Omnitarian
    November 2, 2018 at 4:14 pm

    An ok hand refill for slow mages that don’t want to draw through their whole deck. Also an ok way to inflate your hand to help out Meteorologist and Astromancer; maybe other cards too if big hand mage gets further support in this expansion.

  10. Nidnam1252
    November 2, 2018 at 3:54 pm

    Seems too slow to actually make an impact

  11. Drmengueche
    November 2, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    What if you keep this in the mulligan alongside some burn or other key cards? Would you get infinite value in a control mage deck?

  12. Xalik
    November 2, 2018 at 3:27 pm

    Equivalent of 8 mana 5/5 draw 3-4 (copies from deck with mulligan selection filter and maybe an extra coin) in one card? (Comparable to a 5/5 + 50-100% better version of 3 cost arcane intellect for 8)

    Could be a good hand refill for a top-deck mage with the added benefit of maybe adding an extra stargazer or other extra-special card

    Maybe 3.5/5 unless 8 is too slow in the meta

  13. Sheikh
    November 2, 2018 at 3:17 pm

    You can two quest in game?

    • Sheikh
      November 2, 2018 at 3:17 pm

      In one game*

    • maelstrom
      November 2, 2018 at 9:10 pm

      You can complete two quests in one game but you can’t have two quests at the same time. You have to complete one first then you can start the next.

  14. Jed
    November 2, 2018 at 3:07 pm

    This one is tricky.
    I can’t see a good use for it.

    2/5

    • Soup And Salad
      November 2, 2018 at 9:05 pm

      It is a eight mana 5/5 that draws at least three cards. That compares rather favorably pre-nerf Ancient of Lore and can be used in Tempo Mage as a finishing burst or in a slower mage deck as a value engine what won’t kill you.

      • Jed
        November 2, 2018 at 10:37 pm

        Well soup I think the main problem is the fact that it is your opening hand, which is usually trying to be low cost and early game impactful. I just don’t think you want this to add a sorcerers apprentice and a mana wyrm to your hand (wait)

        Even if it gives you an extra piece of burst damage or something that happened to be in your opening hand, I still think there is better things to run

        Soupy me boy

        • Nickname23
          November 3, 2018 at 6:51 am

          Hi Jed, Hi Soup. I think in theory, this card does what Soup says, but in practice it’ll turn out to be what Jeddy boy says. In Tempo Mage you run AI, because you don’t want to run out of cards too early in the match. And you run Aluneth. In Control/Value Mage this will have no immidiate impact, when it hits the board. So we’re left with combo. Maybe cheap Spells and Anton??