It’s that time of the season again! In this article, we will review the new cards, evaluate the strength of each class set and rank them against each other. We will also be ranking the classes based on their overall power level to predict the upcoming meta.

In addition, we will be producing a theory-crafting article in which we will present you with ideas on what kind of decks could be successful from each class in Ashes of Outland. It will be released on Sunday, April 5th, a couple of days before the expansion’s launch.

Ashes of Outland brings a new class to the game, with its unique mechanics and traits. Demon Hunter is an unknown quantity at this stage, and it will be exciting to see how it shapes up. Alongside a higher number of Ashes of Outland cards (15), it is also receiving 30 cards from separate basic & initiate sets, which we’ve evaluated in Sunday’s piece .

Reminder: We made it a principle not to watch any early access streams promoting the expansion, to make sure that we’re not influenced by them whatsoever. It keeps our Preview strictly theory-based, which makes it more interesting to read, in our opinion.

We’ve assessed cards based on their potential strength and scored them accordingly from 1 to 4 based on the guidelines below.

4- Meta-defining, or an extremely powerful card we have great confidence will see play. Translation: Busted!

3- Very strong card that we’re confident will see play. Translation: Nice!

2- Decent, or niche card with potential to see play. Translation: Okay!

1- A card we don’t believe will see competitive play, for whatever reason. Translation: Meh!

For neutral cards that we believe will see play, we’ve also listed the classes that are most likely to use them.

Each class piece ends in final thoughts regarding the class’ prospects and ranks it.

Year of the Dragon Sets rank: How strong is the class based on its cards from the Classic, Rise of Shadows, Saviors of Uldum, Descent of Dragons and Galakrond Awakening’s sets? (For Demon Hunter, this rank applies to its Basic and Initiate set)

Ashes of Outlands Set rank: How strong is the class’ new set, not ignoring impactful neutrals that could supplement it?

Overall Power Ranking: How strong is the class based on the entire standard card pool?

We’ll see you again soon!

The Vicious Syndicate Data Reaper Team

Spoilers: Ashes of Outland Summary of Ranks

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