The Day of Rebirth mini-set launched earlier this week with the promise to rejuvenate The Lost City of Un’Goro meta. So far, that promise has not come to fruition. In general, mini-sets have been in this awkward place where there are big expectations for them as we have played with the same cards for a while, but they also have only a limited number of new cards to achieve the change people want.
Typically, a mini-set produces one or two new meta decks and a few mid-tier decks for struggling classes. With their card budget, that can be considered an OK set. As it happens, we had the best mini-set of all time early this year with the StarCraft mini-set that was a major success both thematically and mechanically. It was perhaps even a bit too dominant, but it was fun and it was not boring by any measure.
Sadly, Day of Rebirth is at the other end of the spectrum. It is hard to think of a mini-set that has had a smaller impact on the meta. Either way, I ventured to look into what decks there are that use cards from the new mini-set, and I found some, with the strongest one surprisingly from the Wild format! Also, with this performance level, we can at least look forward to the all-but-unavoidable mini-set buffs to make it more impactful in the coming weeks. I hope.
Bat Mask
The most exciting card from the mini-set is Warlock’s Bat Mask. There are always, always uses for filling your board with copies of a minion, even if it comes with 1/1 stats.
Bat Mask has already become a phenomenon in Wild, where it is used in combination with Bloodbloom (to cast it early) and Elwynn Boar (which is the kind of minion you want a full board of).
- Format: wild
- Season: season-138
- Posted By:
12,040
There are also attempts to use Bat Mask in Standard, especially in Starship Warlock, and it has some potential there, but nothing earth-shattering as of yet. Nonetheless, it is the kind of card that just waits for the right partners in crime to appear, and it is ready to roll.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 16,740
Firegill
The most iconic deck from The Lost City of Un’Goro is Quest Paladin. It might not be the best deck. It might not even be playable at top ranks. But it has defined the average player experience of the expansion. It was nerfed, but the mini-set is giving it some new power again, because Firegill is part of the strongest current Quest Paladin list.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 6,120
Hatching Ceremony
On the topic of Paladins, Aggro Paladin also got an interesting new card in the mini-set. Hatching Ceremony is not currently part of the best-performing Aggro Paladin list, but it is doing solid work in the decks where it is included. Maybe there is no room for it in the perfect 30 of the archetype, but it is also possible that with some further refinement, the Hatching Ceremony version of Aggro Paladin could rise to the top of its class.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 4,500
- 0Wisp2
- 0Zilliax Deluxe 30001
- 1Fire Fly2
- 1Murmy2
- 1Platysaur2
- 2Busy-Bot2
- 2Maze Guide2
- 4Mother Duck2
Sideboard
Mirrex and Costume Merchant
Fyrakk Rogue is a popular deck, and while it is possible to play it without any of the mini-set cards, two of the new Rogue cards look like a good fit to the archetype and may establish themselves as regular features. Mirrex, the Crystalline and Costume Merchant are both fine additions to the deck. Some decks use just one of them, and some even opt to use them both.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 19,200
Sideboard
Crystal Tusk
Crystal Tusk looks like it was made for Cycle Rogue, and given how Blizzard plans deck archetypes, it probably was. Shuffling and drawing cards is what Rogue likes to do, and Crystal Tusk does both of those things while also allowing Rogue to swing it around as a weapon.
Cycle Rogue is not as strong as Fyrakk Rogue, but Crystal Tusk is part of the strongest decks of that archetype.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-138
- Player:
- 6,240
- 0Wisp2
- 1Platysaur2
- 2Eat! The! Imp!2
- 2Moonstone Mauler2
- 2Oh, Manager!2
- 7Incindius1
- 25Playhouse Giant2
Soulrest Ceremony
The most interesting new Death Knight card is Soulrest Ceremony, but it has not quite found its place yet. People have been trying to use it in a Deathrattle shell, with mediocre results. It does slightly better when added as another tool to a control shell, where it is a mid-level performer.
Some people have also tried to use Hollow Direhorn in Control Death Knight, but it looks abysmal.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 16,500
Sideboard
And this is what a Herenn Deathrattle Death Knight with Soulrest Ceremony looks like:
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 12,900
Sideboard
The Great Dracorex
People have tried out a few of the new cards in Control Warrior, but success has been elusive. Guard Duty is sort of OK. So is Beast Speaker Taka. Both are fairly late-game cards with somewhat random effects, and they just fail to solve any of Control Warrior’s problems.
The most consistent new card for Control Warrior is The Great Dracorex. It has a reliable effect that immediately affects the board. It also costs eight mana, so it comes out quite late, but at least it always performs when you get to that point, and that has made it the strongest new card for the archetype.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 19,260
Sideboard
Behemoth Mask
I always liked Blackwater Behemoth a lot. It was a time when Priest was still playing control instead of aggro, and a card that removes something from the board, heals you, and remains there as a threat was just the kind of card you wanted for Priest. Now, we get to relive those days with the help of Behemoth Mask. It has not magically turned slow Priest decks into superstars, but it is a solid addition to most attempts to build a slow Priest deck. It does not quite fit into Protoss Priest, but it goes nicely into the Aviana shell.
- Format: raptor
- Season: season-137
- Posted By:
- 19,560
Sideboard
Buffs Incoming?
There are Day of Rebirth cards sprinkled into decks across the ladder. However, they are generally not in the strongest of archetypes, and none of them are able to elevate their archetypes to a new level. They are mostly fine additions, but the cards you cut to make room for them are almost as good. Or sometimes better. In which case, you really should go back to the old list.
Surely, there have to be buffs to make the mini-set more impactful? Even so, the mini-set cards all slot into some existing archetypes, so buffs would not be able to deliver something brand new. There are several mini-set cards in currently mediocre archetypes though, so buffs could make those decks more relevant in the meta, and achieve at least something.
Old Guardian
Ville "Old Guardian" Kilkku is a writer and video creator focused on analytic, educational Hearthstone, and building innovative Standard format decks. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OldGuardian Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/old_guardian
