Rebuke

Rebuke Card

Rebuke is a 2 Mana Cost Common Paladin Spell card from the The Witchwood set!

Card Text

Enemy spells cost (5) more next turn.

Flavor Text

When one buke just isn’t enough.

Rebuke Additional Information

That’s not something I expected, to be honest. It’s a Loatheb effect on a spell, which costs 2 mana. Before Loatheb rotates out of Standard, it was one of the most common and most powerful Legendaries. This card is not even remotely as strong as Loatheb – for just 3 more mana you had a 5/5 body attached, so it was playable (and solid) even if you didn’t expect your opponent to play lots of spells next turn.

This card is super interesting, but I don’t think it’s really good. I think that people are vastly overestimating this card. When playing as an Aggro deck (that’s most likely where you would want to put this card in), Rebuke will be good only in one specific scenario – you’re ahead on the board and you play against a slower deck that can clear your board with a spell. You block it for one turn. Well, it can also be used in a slower deck vs combo decks, but that’s not really too reliable and not something you’d want to add to your deck (as it’s often a dead card).

This card isn’t good, because it has very limited uses. Like, let’s say that you put it into your Aggro deck. If you play vs an Aggro or Midrange deck, you probably won’t really find it useful most of the time. Sure, you might make them play sub-optimally for one turn, but you also spent 2 mana (and a card), so your turn was weaker too. It’s only really useful in an Aggro vs Control matchup, and not every single one – minions can still clear the board, so it won’t stop e.g. Duskbreaker.

The fact that it costs a card and comes with no body or a way to cycle will make it a dead card too often, I feel. It might be used as a tech card in faster Paladin builds, a meta call basically. If you face slower decks that AoE your board all the time, you can tech it in. So I wouldn’t call it useless, but it’s very situational and I don’t think it will be that good. Or rather, it will have its moments, but more often than not it will just be a bad card in your hand.

Overall, I feel like people are looking into the “best case scenario” too much and ignoring the fact that this is not helping you get into the state where this effect is good. It’s terrible in your opening hand, it’s terrible if you have weak board or you’re behind in general, it’s terrible if you play vs another fast deck. There are simply significantly more situations in which this card is bad than good.

Card rating: 3/10, better in a heavy spell meta (as a tech).

Leave a Reply

50 Comments

  1. PPAP
    March 27, 2018 at 11:06 am

    This card feels like Doomsayer (on empty board). You waste a card (which is important in aggro pally) to get to decide how the board will be built. While Doomsayer is a control tool that caounters minion based aggro decks, Rebuke is the opposite of that, countering spell based control decks. Doomsayer sees play for a reason – control decks can play a card that does nothing while aggro decks can’t. The great body on loatheb it what makes it so popular (you wouldn’t play a 2-cost spell that shuffles an Un’Goro pack in your deck), so I think Rebuke will see some trial in Genn Paladin, but it won’t work in the end.

  2. BattlePants
    March 27, 2018 at 2:00 am

    Its still early to tell how good it will be depending on what the meta will look like. IF the meta sees a lot of spell heavy decks, this card can prove broken, but in a meta filled with ” aggro hunter, dragon priest, spiteful priest, aggro/tempo warrior, zoo lock and aggro pally. This card is almost relevant.

    As the meta is right now, sure a powerful card, but the new expansion seems to be emphasizing on a aggro game for most classes, except for shaman, that seems to be a control class now

  3. Wywern
    March 27, 2018 at 1:34 am

    The exodia paladin dream is finally coming true. You would not believe how big a deal just how big a deal a pyro-equality, double rebuke and DK hero power turn can be. Now, if only we had reliable coins…

    • Stonekeep - Site Admin
      March 27, 2018 at 3:38 am

      Sure, that sounds good, but do you realize how hard would it be to pull off? That’s a 4 cards set-up AND you need to have Uther already in play AND rest of the combo in your hand.

      Oh, and I assume you’re talking about Wild – Beardo will be gone from Standard.

  4. Matt
    March 26, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    Definitely going to warp what control looks like. As long as control plays some taunts or something that they can drop when they get hit by this instead of just spells it’s not backbreaking.

  5. Threather
    March 26, 2018 at 4:54 pm

    Strong card, shuts down combo turns/board clears, even UI, and allows paladin to buy some time to draw equality, maybe even setup OTK lethal with hero power.

    Will most likely see play as single copy in most paladin decks because having 2 copies in hand is not that great.

    Paladin will need to get some extra draw in the deck to make up running 2 copies of this card.

  6. MattH
    March 26, 2018 at 3:18 pm

    Will have to wait and see what the Paladin decks look like in standard to know how well this fits, as a standalone spell it obviously has a lot of potential.

    It seems like it will be OP for people that still play wild, using this in any of the aggressive paladin decks will really push them to another level, and they are already really dominant in the wild meta.

    • Soup And Salad
      March 28, 2018 at 6:28 am

      In wild, you’d probably prefer having more Silver Hand support cards than this because of the combo focused nature of the format. Rebuke is only good against control or combo match-up unless you absolutely time it perfectly, and since you can see anything in wild, it is probably better to play as few situational cards as possible.

      • MattH
        March 28, 2018 at 2:53 pm

        You could be right but alot of them already run loatheb so the effect is clearly sought after, im still a little unsure about how this weighs up next to loatheb though as the 5/5 body is still a big deal.

        • Soup And Salad
          March 28, 2018 at 3:02 pm

          It really depends on whether Paladin shifts more towards midrange in Wild for this to see play in that format.
          But generally, Loathed is better since the body it creates will be a threat on the board and as such it will never be a dead card, but Rebuke can be in minion based match-ups.

  7. ControlWarriorFTW
    March 26, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    Play call to arms,play rebuke instant win

    • Soup And Salad
      March 26, 2018 at 4:15 pm

      Call to Arms on turn 6 is much weaker than it is on turn 4 with or without Rebuke. The only time is is actually rather powerful would be if it pulls out both Rightous Protectors.
      After turn 5, the power of Call to Arms comes from thinning the weaker minions out of your deck rather than the bodies it puts on the board, especially against minion based decks.

  8. Soup And Salad
    March 26, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    This card is amazing tool for Paladin. However, it isn’t as scary as many people think it is. It would be if it were in Kobolds and Catacombs, but since both sggressive Paladin decks are losing 3 or 4 cards each, I doubt the decks as we know them will likely cease to exist and shift more towards a midrange play-style, swapping out the Divine Favors, Dire Wolf Alphas, and other aggressive tools for a Tirion, Spikeridge Steeds, and Truesilver Champions.

    A midrange deck playing Rebuke to hold a midgame board will not just win games outright as it would for aggresive decks.

  9. BeerWizard
    March 26, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    This seems pretty legit for the aggro dude paladin like people are saying, I just want to point out that it could also be used as a stall tool for Uther of the Ebon Blade combo pally. With the loss of Auctionmaster Beardo in standard, fans of that combo could use double rebuke to help stall for the four horsemen win condition depending on the sorts of board wipes being used (Duskbreaker as a response would be pretty devestating). Since it would be a multiple turn kill combo, I would think it to be an alternate win condition as opposed to main focus of the deck.

    It wouldn’t probably be broken but I could see it being a skilltesting and interesting deck to play and play against.

  10. GlosuuLang
    March 26, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    Is this for serious? Didn’t Paladin have enough with Call to Arms that they also need an extra broken tool? For those of you who don’t know Loatheb, he’s considered one of the best legendaries ever for countering spell tech. His effect was THAT good. Now we have his effect for just 2 mana, at common, and 2 copies of it in every deck. Imagine filling your board with Paladin, then use this. Your oponent has to take damage from a big board to the face. Next turn you develop more and play it again. Think 2 Call to Arms one after the other is busted? Wait until you see Rebuke played twice in a row. The only thing this doesn’t counter is Duskbreaker, which honestly is another broken tool that should be nerfed.

    I do hope nerfs to Call to Arms and this card come out soon because I don’t want to be facing Paladin as often as I had to face Druid in KFT.

    • Soup And Salad
      March 26, 2018 at 1:44 pm

      The current Aggro Paladin decks will be losing a ton of critical cards (Rallying Blade, Vilefin Inquisitor, Stand Against Darkness, Steward of Darkshire, Grimescale Chum, among a couple others depending on the build) and I doubt the archetype will be getting too much new support.

      This card is an amazing tool, but unless the gaps created by the rotation are filled, Aggro Paladin will probably shift more towards Midrange and drop stuff like Divine Favor as a result. A midrange Paladin using this card is not nearly as scary as Aggro Paladin.

      Also the dragon package is losing Historian and Operative, so unless dragons get at least two new low to mid cost cards Duskbreaker’s relevance in the metagame will wane.

      • Pindead
        March 26, 2018 at 1:57 pm

        Doesn’t matter. As long you have call to arms the other cards of the deck doesn’t matter that much. It will be strong no matter what. Even with bad 2 and 1 drop. As long you put tarim knife juggler and call to arms the deck will be strong i aggro.

        • Soup And Salad
          March 26, 2018 at 2:08 pm

          Such a deck would be Call to Arms or bust, something the current Paladin deck are not by any stretch of the imagination.

          Playing a bunch of bad low value cards won’t do the deck much good unless Call to Arms pulled them all out of the deck at once like Mysterious Challenger did for Secret Paladin.

          A Call or Bust Paladin deck could still work, but it would be far from the format dominating force it currently is right now without the cards they are losing.

      • Xix
        March 27, 2018 at 3:26 am

        Murloc paladin does not get it’s power from Grimescale Chum and Vilefin Inquisitor. The reason why murloc paladin works is because it can flood the board and refill by using divine favor. Losing just those murlocs does not matter that much for the deck. The most powerfull murloc cards will stay in the game for another year.

        • Soup And Salad
          March 27, 2018 at 7:14 am

          Those two cards are crucial 1 drops for the deck and the best cards a Murloc Paladin can start out with and play, so yes it does matter. Losing those two cards would be the equivalent of Cubelock losing both Kobold Librarian and Mortal Coil, two cards that might not be particularly powerful, but they do give you things to do really early on and can be extremely helpful for maintaining the consistency of your deck. In both deck too, there are cards that can replace them if need be, but they won’t be anywhere near as strong.

          Rockpool Hunter will be around for another year, yes, but you won’t draw it every game and without multiple Murloc 1 drops (Unless playing Deadscale Knight, Murloc Raider, and Grimscale Oracle instead is really appealing) you won’t be able to create that devastating early game board.

          Murloc Paladin will still be around just as a niche aggro deck rather than a format defining menace.

          • Xix
            March 27, 2018 at 11:35 pm

            Murloc Tidecaller is the strongest 1 drop. And not every murloc pally is running the chum. Anyway hopefully your right about murloc pally not being able to stick arround without those and hopefully there wont be any murlocs this expansion cause murloc pally has been arround way to long allready….

            Btw: the reason why murloc shaman never took off is really because shaman does not have divine favor. That is the number one key card of the agro pally deck, and it will allways stay arround, so agro pally can allways return in a different form. And rebuke will be here for 2 years to give pally’s that protection from boardclears.

          • Soup And Salad
            March 28, 2018 at 6:25 am

            To Xix

            While not absolutely every Murloc Paladin deck at the moment is playing Chum, the vast majority are. Also according to the statistics, you are slightly better off starting with Inquisitor than Tidecaller at this moment.

            Also, I think the importance of Call to Arms shouldn’t be underestimated for the power of the deck. As far as I can remember, the current generation of aggro Paladin only became possible with that card and the nerfs to Patches and Corridor Creeper, and the Murloc Paladin of Un’Goro format wavered on played Divine Favor at least in part because that was more of a Midrange/aggro format than this format is currently. Divine Favor can either be one of the best card in your deck against control decks and an extremely poor top deck against the mirror or other fast decks.

      • Nidnam
        March 29, 2018 at 12:29 am

        I was able to go from rank 8 to 5 with a version of dude paladin that didn’t run Steward or Rallying Blade.

        Losing Stand Against Darkness hurts, but if we get anything from Witchwood that provides more Silver Hand Support, I’m certain Dude Pally will still be around.

        I Don’t think Murloc Pally will survive though.

        • Soup And Salad
          March 29, 2018 at 7:49 am

          Yeah Silver Hand Paladin will probably be around as a niche aggro deck rather than the powerhouse it is right now.
          Also, your success with a deck does not mean that success can be repeated for the thousands of players who are less familiar with the deck or less skilled than yourself. I am aware of a handful of players that are so good at playing control Warrior, it’s all they play are are successful with it even at higher legend ranks, but that doesn’t mean Control Warrior is a top teir deck.

  11. CD001
    March 26, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    In any other class this would be a good card – in Paladin it’s looking borderline broken O_o

  12. sina
    March 26, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    tnx bllizard we just need a great buff on call to arm and devine flavor .make paladin more than raza priest and give him anti control tools rly nice work dev team its clear to me u make a class beyond op and push a class to dust.

  13. Orasha
    March 26, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    Genn Paladin incoming

  14. Pindead
    March 26, 2018 at 11:44 am

    Too strong.

  15. ddd
    March 26, 2018 at 11:42 am

    more aggro paladin plz

  16. Crapcrack
    March 26, 2018 at 11:39 am

    It’s not AS good as Loatheb, BUT it’s actually pretty solid.

    • MugiJ
      March 26, 2018 at 11:50 am

      I thought,in the dude or murlock ,it will be too strong.

    • MugiJ
      March 26, 2018 at 11:50 am

      I thought,in the dude or murlock ,it will be too strong.

    • GlosuuLang
      March 26, 2018 at 1:20 pm

      What??? This is much better than Loatheb. Loatheb costs 5 mana, and you can only have one copy of it in your deck!

  17. Sep
    March 26, 2018 at 11:28 am

    This card is just bad compared to Loatheb. What are you, rank 20?

    • Xix
      March 26, 2018 at 11:45 am

      I think your forgetting this is awesome for agro. Paladins can now just fill their board and cancel out your boardclear.
      This card actualy disgust me because it’s going to push agro pally even further to the top.
      Loatheb problem for agro was dat it was hard to combo. This asshole card only cost 2 mana, so easy to combo.

      With call to arms and divine favor this is going to be the next most hated card in the new meta.

      • MugiJ
        March 26, 2018 at 12:34 pm

        Indeed

      • Telim Tor
        March 26, 2018 at 1:02 pm

        Yes, but don’t forget this card don’t stop Duskbreaker aoe, Dragon Priest could rise more play to counter it.

        • GlosuuLang
          March 26, 2018 at 1:22 pm

          It’s kind of the only counter to Aggro Paladin left once Witchwood hits. And we’ll see, there’s no more Netherspite Historian on 2 to reveal a dragon that activates Duskbreaker (one of those dragons could be an extra Duskbreaker, which destroyed Paladin). I do hope we don’t end in a Jade Druid/Raza Priest metagame like we had in KnC before the nerfs…

      • Soup And Salad
        March 26, 2018 at 1:59 pm

        Aggro Paladin as we currently know it will not be possible once The Witchwood drops and the rotation happens since both aggressive archetypes will be losing three critical cards each.

    • Drogan9955
      March 26, 2018 at 12:54 pm

      What are you, rank 25? The best thing about Loatheb was not the 5/5 body, it was his battlecry and having access to it for such a low cost is really good. This is going to see play in every aggressive paladin deck for the next cycle and I’d be surprised if it doesn’t find its way into wild decks.

      • Hallo123
        March 26, 2018 at 1:13 pm

        I really don’t think so, Loatheb is good because it was ALWAYS good with its 55 stats, and sometimes won you the game. This card is ONLY good if you already have a wide board, and draw devine favor. Also a control deck doesnt play ONLY spells. This is actually pretty risky to put in your deck because its NO value in many matchups, even with devine favor in the deck. Loatheb is way bether than this card, but this card has some mean combo potential.

        • Pindead
          March 26, 2018 at 1:54 pm

          You don’t know what you’re talking about. Loatheb’s body isn’t that relevant. You play Loatheb in your deck nearly only for his battlecry.

          • Hallo123
            March 28, 2018 at 6:23 am

            You are just saying that without any arguments. Thats maybe a bit true in aggro vs control matchup, and even then the body is really good in combination with the effect. Rebuke is ONLY in this matchup good, and isn’t filling the board itself. So you need a board setup. In aggro vs aggro matchup the card is useless. Worse than nothing because of devine favor.

        • Pindead
          March 28, 2018 at 6:41 am

          Aggro paladin already bits any aggro with call to arms. Too much tempo. Maybe a aggro paladin without rebuke will counter a rebuke one

  18. NIGHTxBLADE
    March 26, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Holy **** IT IS GOING TO BE BEST CARD IN THIS EXPANSION.
    2 COST LOTHAB BATLLECRY WITH ONLY 40 DUST?! GG