It was just yesterday that I posted my rather lengthy review of the bulk of the cards that have been revealed from the upcoming Goblins vs Gnomes Hearthstone expansion. With the pace with which new cards are being spoiled, I figured I’m best off tackling them as they come. I do plan on writing a more comprehensive look at the full expansion when it’s available, but in the meantime I plan on discussing small groups of cards as they come up.

You can find my original review here

Let’s take a look at our newest additions!

I’m a big fan of flexibility in my cards, which is one of the things that drew me to playing Druid as one of my first classes in Hearthstone. As someone who favors midrange strategies in Magic, I really like to have the ability to change gears and be defensive when I need to be and offensive when I want to be. Cards like Druid of the Claw, Keeper of the Grove, and Ancient of Lore give Druid decks the ability to take very different lines of play based on the board state at the time. Anodized Robo Cub is the latest in this proud line. Much like Druid of the Claw, Robo Cub offers two good deals, and you can choose which one you want based on the game state and what you’re up against. It’s interesting to note that this is the first 2/3 Taunt creature for two mana that we’ve seen so far in Hearthstone, and that can be a very effective tool against popular aggressive creatures like Leper Gnome or the new Clockwork Gnome (what is it about Gnomes that makes them so aggressive, anyway?). It’s a bit less effective against Undertaker, but that’s not really a card that’s fair to use as a baseline for comparison, since it probably shouldn’t exist as-is.

On top of its natural quality stats, the Robo Cub is a Mech! We’re slowly seeing more Mech-based synergies being revealed. As I mentioned in my original review, the card that seems most impressive to me so far is Mechwarper for its cost reduction effect, as long as you have some ways to protect it. Robo Cub is an excellent way to do just that, and you could even potentially coin out a first turn Mechwarper and play two Robo Cubs to stand card over it on your second turn! That’s quite the cuddly bear-blockade.

This is the first Druid card we’ve seen so far from the new expansion, so it’s hard to judge what tools the class might have to build Mech-based decks, but this is sure to be a staple in any of them. It’s just a straightforward quality card based on raw stats alone that will probably see play in some number in some non-Mech oriented Druid decks as well if they’re looking for a cheap defensive creature.

Plus, it’s just adorable. Fuzzy wuzzy wuz a bear…fuzzy wuzzy had no hair. Because he had metal plates all over, instead.

Now *this* is a Mech tribal card. This is the most exciting payoff I’ve seen yet as far as building a Mech heavy deck is concerned. Okay, maybe not quite as exciting as Mechwarper, but this is still pretty impressive. If you play this in a deck that is almost or entirely Mech-based (as you certainly should), you basically get to deal two points of damage every turn to a random minion your opponent controls. It’s basically a double activation of Knife Juggler that’s guaranteed to hit the same target. That’s a very powerful effect! The fact that it triggers at the end of your turn means that you’re guaranteed to get the trigger the turn you play it, so your opponent can’t stop it even if they kill the Fel Cannon right away. It also means that you have your entire turn to sculpt the board to give your Fel Cannon the best chance of hitting a valuable target. Unlike Knife Juggler, Fel Cannon can’t hit players, so if you’re able to whittle your opponent’s board down minions with two remaining health or yet, it’s guaranteed to take something down.

On top of all of that, Fel Cannon comes with a 3/5 body. Those are certainly not the best stats you can find on a four drop, but they’re definitely respectable. Since Fel Cannon’s ability is so valuable, you’re certainly happy to have more health than power so it sticks around longer. Five is a nice flashpoint where the creature doesn’t die to things like Truesilver Champion, Soulfire, or Huffer, or generally most other on-cost creatures, which usually means your opponent is going to have to expend a little something extra to kill it. Any card that gets immediate value the turn I play it, is difficult to remove, and continues to provide more value every turn it stays in play is certainly one worth exploring, and I expect Fel Cannon to see a lot of play once Goblins vs Gnomes is released.

Today’s reveals were nothing but solid cards. I’ve seen some people call Screwjank Clunker a worse Upgraded Repair Bot, but Clunker has quite a few ways in which it edges out the Priest minion. First of all, it’s cheaper, which is not only obviously valuable in itself but is especially important in a world with Mechwarper. It’s *much* easier to imagine a Mechwarper living for a turn to enable you to play a four cost minion on turn three than to stick around much longer than that. Mechwarper into Screwjank Clunker is pretty much a perfect curve, giving you a 4/5 minion attacking on turn three alongside a 2/5 that’s mostly done its job. Even better, pumping up the Mechwarper makes it all that much more likely that it sticks around for future turns, continuing to give you cost reductions on your future Mech minions.

Even outside of costs, Screwjank Clunker offers a boost in power, while the Repair Bot only increases health. That makes the Clunker much better for actually allowing your cheaper minions to attack up into more powerful boards and win, while the Repair Bot just serves to keep its target alive longer. If you have, for instance, a Spider Tank, and your opponent plays a Chillwind Yeti at four mana, you can just play your Screwjank Clunker to immediately buff your Spider Tank to take out the Yeti and leave you with a 5/2 and a 2/5. In a similar situation a turn later with, say, a Piloted Shredder against a Loetheb, or a Sludge Belcher, you could play your Repair Bot to boost your Shredder’s health, but it’s still unable to swing the tempo back in your favor by killing your opponent’s minion up the curve. Repair Bot is certainly a better body on it’s own – there’s no question a 5/5 for 5 is a better rate than a 2/5 for 4 – but it doesn’t offer the ability to swing tempo in quite the same way, especially when you’re behind.

While it may *look* like a 2/5, the Clunker is more like a 4/7 in terms of the stats it actually brings to the table, and two points of that power can attack right away. That’s a lot of value for just four mana, and I’d expect this card to be a fixture in MechWarrior decks once GvG comes out. Also, I hope Mech-centric Warrior decks are a thing, mostly because I want to call them MechWarriors.