The holiday season is upon us, but for Hearthstone fans around the world, we got our big present early this year. The Goblins vs Gnomes expansion, announced a few short weeks before at Blizzcon, released in early December. It brought with it over one hundred new and exciting cards for players to tinker and experiment with in true Goblin and Gnomish fashion.

Honorable Mention – Piloted Shredder

You never know who is going to eject out of these things...

5 – Imp-losion

Imp-losion flanked by a couple of cards it synergises well with.

4 – Muster for Battle

Muster also plays nicely with a number of other ways Paladins can buff their minions.

3 – Shieldmaiden

Shieldmaiden is another way to enable a high value Shield Slam kill. And get to Grommash.

2 – Dr. Boom

“ If you’re looking for a single Legendary card from the new set to craft, this is the one to make.

Instant army.

1 – Mechwarper

24 damage incoming on turn four...

...and then there's this turn three board state.

While many players, including myself, speculated upon which cards would make a splash in the competitive scene before they were released, there is no substitute for experience. Now that the world has gotten a chance to play them, these are the cards from Goblins vs Gnomes that have really stood head and shoulders above the rest.I had too much trouble culling the list down to five, so I’m cheating a bit here. The Piloted creatures – Shredder, Sky Golem, and Sneed’s Old Shredder – have been a source of both fun and frustration for players since their release. We’ve all seen videos of Kel’Thuzad emerging from Sneed’s Old Shredder after a Brawl, and Doomsayer makes for a shockingly good Shredder pilot who always seem to come up at the worst possible time.Despite its penchant for leaving doom and desolation in its wake, Piloted Shredder has still been one of the top new minions since release, offering a resilient body that plays well with the ever-popular Undertaker thanks to its deathrattle ability.This new spell flew under most players’ collective radar when it was first revealed, but it has since made quite the Imp-act. Imp-losion is a key element of the new Sea Giant Zoo deck popularized by XiXo , who used the strategy to reach #1 Legend rank on all three of the North American, European, and Asia servers at the same time – an impressive feat that I’m not sure has ever been accomplished before.Imp-losion works well to power out the Giants, and also has very powerful synergy with Knife Juggler, to say nothing of the effectiveness of the 1/1 bodies themselves in an aggressive strategy built around overwhelming the opponent.The card also saw play in the wacky Demonlock deck that Darkwonyx played to victory in the ESL Legendary Series Week Five , though he used it more as a tool to help him control the board than anything else.Speaking of 1/1 bodies, Paladins these days have them in spades. Muster for Battle breathed new life into the much-maligned class, giving it a way to take a strong proactive stance early in the game. Muster is powerful on its own, creating a 3/3 minion worth of stats and a 1/4 weapon for just one card, but even stronger are the synergies it offers.The obvious pairing is the new Quartermaster card, which turns all of your Silver Hand Recruits into 3/3s that can close out the game on their own, especially if you play both cards in one turn when you have eight mana so you can avoid losing your Recruits to cards like Wild Pyromancer or Holy Nova Even outside of Quartermaster, Muster has lots of good buddies, from Knife Juggler to mow down your opponent’s team or Cult Master to help you refill your hand as you send your recruits to their death.Expect to hear “Reporting for Duty!” quite a bit in Hearthstone’s future, and hopefully “To Arms, Men!” only when you’re the one playing Paladin.Shieldmaiden didn’t get a lot of hype when it was first revealed because it didn’t look very exciting. After all, it’s basically a Priestess of Elune with one more health that gives you armor instead of restoring life, and Priestess of Elune rarely sees competitive play – how good could it possibly be? Very good, it turns out.Control Warrior decks are just looking to keep themselves alive and deal with opposing minions until they can start unleashing huge Legendary minions to win the game, like the devastating Alexstrasza into Grommash combo. Shieldmaiden buys the time necessary to do that, and also happens to help enable Shield Slam in the meantime.Sometimes you’re not looking for anything exciting or fancy – you just want someone who can help you take some hits.On the subject of huge Legendary minions, there is none that shows up more often these days than Dr. Boom. War Golem on the surface, and that guy isn’t even especially popular in the Arena, let alone in ranked play. But the Boom Bots make all the difference, giving Dr. Boom a resilience that is hard to find elsewhere since it’s very difficult for your opponent to trade with him using only a single card.While many large minions live in constant fear of Big Game Hunter , Dr. Boom leaves behind some explosive friends even if your opponent has the perfect answer right away – and if they don’t, they’re in trouble.Dr. Boom has been turning up in decks of pretty much every class at all levels of play – if you’re looking for a single Legendary card from the new set to craft, this is the one to make.While Dr. Boom may be Legendary, and he may be everywhere, he hasn’t changed the face of Hearthstone quite as much as this little robot that could. In my initial review on my website BMKGaming.com , I called Mechwarper “perhaps the single scariest card that has been revealed from the Goblins vs Gnomes set so far” – and I stand by that statement. Mechwarper’s cost reduction ability has made it into the “new Undertaker” in terms of its ability to generate incredibly powerful starts that make it difficult or even impossible for your opponent to come back.It’s important to keep in mind that its effect applies to every Mech you cast in a turn, and multiple Mechwarper effects are cumulative, so you can get huge cost reductions that allow you to play out your entire hand. It’s the core card in every new Mech-focused deck that makes them tick, and we’ve seen quite a few of them, from Mage to Rogue to Druid to Warlock, and I’m sure there are more to come.Here’s just two examples of what Mechwarper makes possible:Not bad, huh?I, for one, welcome our new Mech overlords. Long may they reign!

Brian Kibler is a professional gamer and game designer, as well as a member of the Magic the Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame. He shares his thoughts about Hearthstone and other games at his website BMKGaming , and helps design SolForge and Ascension as a part of Stone Blade Entertainment. Follow him on Twitter and watch him play games live on Twitch