It’s time for another round of card reveals for the upcoming expansion of Hearthstone, and InvenGlobal is proud to present our exclusive card preview of Knights of the Frozen Throne.



We hereby present... Mindbreaker.





Mindbreaker is a Rare neutral 2/5 minion that costs 3 mana, and it will disable Hero Powers for both players while this is on the battlefield.



At a glance, Mindbreaker passes the vanilla test (The average of its stats is equal to or more than its cost), but having attack power of 2 might be too weak for its cost without a way to strengthen it. Some competitive decks have previously used 3-mana 2/5 vanilla minions like Druid of the Flame (in Fire Hawk Form) and Carrion Grub, but they were Beast cards that had a synergy with cards like Mark of Y’shaarj and Houndmaster respectively. Since Mindbreaker does not have a card type, it’s unlikely that this card will be a significant threat on board in Ranked Games.





▲ Fun fact: there were only three 3-mana 2/5 minions in the entire history of Hearthstone.



Of course, you wouldn't use Mindbreaker just for its stats. With the new Legendary Hero cards and their powerful Hero Powers being a main keyword of this expansion, it looks like Mindbreaker is made to be a 'tech card' - a card specifically made to keep those new Legendary Hero cards in check.



Even without the new Hero Powers, there are decks that often spend their second or even third turn using Hero Power like Token Shamans and Handlocks. As they typically play out the early turns using Hero power or playing weaker minions, playing Mindbreaker against them can be a good tempo play.



The problem with Mindbreaker's ability, however, is how it has to be played preemptively and hope that it would disturb opponent's plan. Golakka Crawler, a popular tech card, will always destroy a Pirate on the battlefield, and the opponent cannot do anything to stop it. In the case of Mindbreaker, opponents are free to navigate around Mindbreaker's restrictions until they have a kill spell or enough board state to get rid of Mindbreaker. In fact, against decks like Pirate Warriors, Mindbreaker might as well be a vanilla 2/5 minion for 3 mana, since they don't care about being unable to use Hero Powers.





▲ Minions with a downside for both players haven't been popular so far.

Instead, what can reasonably be expected from this card is being played in the Arena.



We all had that moment when we have to choose from three terrible Rare cards, and Mindbreaker can be a card that at least passes the vanilla test in that situation. Also, Mindbreaker's high health actually makes it a good target for buff cards. Paladins can follow up with Blessing of Kings after playing Mindbreaker to make a 6/9 minion on Turn 4, and with printing of Bonemare on common, any class can easily have access to a powerful buff card.



Furthermore, Mindbreaker's ability should be more relevant in the Arena too, as the value of Hero Power is generally higher in the Arena. While Mindbreaker is on board, Mages won't be able to ping down a 5 health minion after a Flamestrike, Warlocks will no longer have the advantage in top-deck wars by drawing more than one card per turn, and Hunters won't be able to get that last two points of damage despite taunts. Finally, as unlikely as it sounds in the Arena, you might be able to ruin the day of someone who picked a Legendary Hero card.



