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It is to my not insubstantial regret that I didn’t get around to writing about how fun Hearthstone’s Starcraft crossover mini-set turned out. The Zerg cards really nailed the assignment when it came to being rage-inducing swarmy bastards, while the Terran faction also felt super-flavourful thanks to Jim Ryan launching weaponised starships like Elon Musk with a malfunctioning brain chip. Protoss I could take or leave, but two out of three Ws ain’t bad.
Happily, those cards are sticking around as we enter the Year of the Raptor, which also heralds Hearthstone annual refresh of the pool of expansions that are legal in the Standard game mode. The first new full expansion of 2025 is Into The Emerald Dream, which is out on 25 March, and I’ve got four Mage cards to reveal here today. Let’s start with the Legendary…
Q’onzu
One look at Q’onzu’s artwork and I know this is a card that will launch a hundred memes. You simply don’t put a magical blue owl in a jaunty headdress and necklace into your game and not expect a reaction. I won’t pretend to know Q’onzu’s context from WoW, other than to say that as far as I can it’s a Loa, which if you played the Rastakhan’s Rumble set you might remember is a kind of wild god. What I do know, and I’m showing my age here by saying it, is that 3/4 for 3 Mana is good for the cost, particularly when Q’onzu also comes with a high utility effect.
Discovering a Spell is always powerful, enabling you to search for an answer to the current game state, but the twist with Q’onzu is that after picking the spell, you can also choose to put that card on the top of your opponent’s deck. Why might you want to do that? Well, if the spell is terrible, you’ve effectively bricked your opponent’s next draw, which could be relevant in a top deck battle. It’s definitely a niche effect, but anything that enables you to disrupt your opponent is at least worth thinking about, and even without that interaction I think the raw value of Q’onzu is enough to see the blue bird make it into meta Mage decks.
Forbidden Shrine
Since the idea was introduced in Whisper of the Old Gods, the word ‘Forbidden’ in a card’s name has meant that it will spend all your remaining Mana when played, with the strength of its effect varying accordingly. This is the first time I’ve seen it used on a ‘location’ card though, meaning you’ll be able to trigger the effect three times. As is usually the case with ‘cast a random spell’ cards, it’s tough to judge the power without knowing exactly what spells are in the pool at each cost. The expensive stuff tends to be most relevant, as the pool is smaller making for slightly more consistent result.
Mage’s other main theme for Into The Emerald Dream appears to be summoning and destroying Wisps to trigger various payoffs. None of the cards I’m revealing today really lean into that idea, but it’s good to know that a core part of Mage’s DNA remains ‘cast random bullshit and hope for the best’.
Spark of Life
With the Emerald Dream having a strong Druid presence, Blizzard has decided to finally share Malfurion’s signature ‘Choose One’ mechanic with other classes. Spark of Life is a simple utility card that enables you to Discover a spell from either the Druid or Mage pools. Looking for direct damage to close out a game? Stick with Mage. Need some clutch healing? Try the Druid cupboard. Not flashy, but the kind of thing that does tend to see play, especially in singleton decks, though I doubt those will be a thing with Reno, Lone Ranger rotating out.
Stellar Balance
One of Druid’s more polarizing archetypes down the years has been ‘send a bunch of cheap spell damage direct to the dome’. Stellar balance is the kind of card that makes me suspect Blizzard might not be done with the deck, despite the lack of Malygos in the Core set. After set rotation, there will be a bunch of cards left in the Druid set that interact with spell damage, including Chia Drake, Magical Dollhouse, and Owlonius. Those are the kind of cards that will benefit from banking a bunch of burn, although Starfire is a too expensive to easily combo with. Stellar Balance is one to keep a wary eye on, I suspect.
Check out the full list of cards revealed for Into The Emerald Dream so far in the official Hearthstone library.
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Kurt Indovina
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