Zoo’s gonna be a thing for the first few weeks again!
Turn 2 Cable Rat into turn 3 Lackey + Coin into this is a turn 4 concede for your opponent. Good arena card too, getting a 3/3 off this as well.
4/5 all things considered.
1 Like
This is really strong. You destroy a useless 1/1 (after it already got it’s powerful battlecry off) and get a 5/5 for it. o.O. And it’s really not hard to setup. Sure you might not see it on t3 very often but this is an easy (and very strong) t4.
When it works, especially the nut draw of 1 drop into cable rat into coin lackey recruiter, it’s incredibly powerful. What about when you don’t have the synergy in hand? Cable Rat and EVIL Genius are the only Lackey sources for Warlock, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see another generator revealed later. A 3 mana 3/3 isn’t the end of the world, but it’s definitely a downgrade from what Zoo is normally trying to do. Currently, Zoo runs almost zero 3 drops, it’s mainly just 1 drops to abuse Magic Carpet and flooding the board to enable Sea Giants.
To put it in perspective, basically every rogue archetype runs EVIL Miscreant but despite how powerful he is, only Tempo runs Heistbaron Togwaggle.
Looks like T5 REALLY want Lackeys to be a thing in SoU, this card is hella strong when it hits, but you’re going to have to run EVIL rat because you definitely don’t want to be playing this as a 3 mana 3/3.
If zoo is good enough then this card will probably be in the deck, does this card make zoo more viable in itself?, a little bit, but it’s not really consistent enough unless we get a new good Lackey generator imo.
Mind you playing a lackey that gives you a random 2 drop and then EVIL recruiter on 4 for a 2 drop+3/3+5/5 is pretty nuts it has to be said.
Yeah, this thing is one of the stronger tempo plays lock will have, and may be a big boost to a zoo lock deck.
Only thing that holds it back is that there aren’t a ton of lackey generators in lock, but their draw power could potentially fix that.
It might not be enough to push the deck into top tiers though, since decks are already building in ways to make sure that they can handle a turn 4 giant. The advantage this has over mage there though is that turns 1-3 are actually building a board presence.
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you haven’t played a lot of zoo. This is the easiest thing in the world to accomplish.
4 Likes
Clearly a broken card that will be nerfed 2-3 expansions later as they will remove from the classic set first before they touch this one.
I will be saving my copies for dust when the time comes.
A 3 mana 3/3 that conditionally creates a 5/5 is great value. The condition itself is not particularly restrictive, especially if Warlock gets a new Lackey generator a la Shaman with EVIL Totem. This card is easily a 3 out of 5, but a new Warlock Lackey generator probably pushes this to a 4 out of 5.
That Druid card is bad because Druid has savage roar and board buffs. If they have a board worth turning into 5/5s then they can probably roar and kill their opponent.
3 Likes
My Prismatic Warlock is going to rank up pretty good now!
The demon deck is deceptively good right now. It just needed a few key cards to make it a competitive deck. this card helps add more ability to build a board, which is what the demon deck is really good at doing. The removal minion was exactly what they needed to compliment the deck.
Scary thought. Turn 1 Flame Imp (3/2), Turn 2 Scarab Egg, Turn 3 Evil Genius into maybe a Grim Rally or pass, either is fine, Turn 4 is Faceless Lackey that highrolls a Millhouse Manastorm and Evil Recruiter that eats the Lackey. If this all sticks WOW, and if it doesn’t on turn 4 you just made a 3/3, a 4/4, and a 5/5.
I was looking for a new class to play since I can’t wrap my head around this new form of Rogue- this might be what I turn to. The aggro is REAL ![:smiley:](https://dacy5cilkxabf.cloudfront.net/en/hearthstone/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=6" ":smiley:")
I love it!!!
P.S. I want this card as an avatar
this is gonna suck a lot (playing against it) in arena…
It may be. Im not sure. The one problem is that it cant ever be “just” a tempo play. That effect is too good at any stage of the game. Losing it for just 3/3 in stats is devastating compared to literally anything else the zoo deck could have done.
Theres not a ton of lackey generators in warlock right now. We have 1. 2 if you include cable rat. Which is a very bad card on its own. Zoo works through very high tempo every single turn. Losing 2 or 3 turns of highest tempo to spike turn 4…isn’t quite as strong as it seems at first glance.
Im pretty sure this card sees heavy play. Im entirely sure its going to have a positive effect on warlock win rates. I dont think that its downside is actually an ignorable element. You have to lose a really large amount of tempo to set this up. Rat is a big tempo negative play. Genius is worse…both as a 2 drop with lower stats than average AND because it removes turn 1s tempo.
Then you cant even tempo that lackey out quickly. You have to save it for turn 4.
The reward for all of that IS good. But, lets review. Genius is easily cleared…probably in a favorable trade. That means turn 3 will often leave your opponent ahead on board. They now have attackers advantage. And keep it into turn 4.
For an aggro deck…that means the entire first half of your game is spent behind. This card has to literally float all of that back into your favor. And a control deck will appreciate you letting them save removal for it because your had to kill your own board twice.
2 Likes
More 1 mana 5/5s. Bliz loves them some 1 mana 5/5s. Needless to say this is bonkers level good. Zoo is back
Crazy tempo and value. Warlock probably needs more in Standard, but this card will cause some frustrating losses.
This card just seems too clunky. Carpet is better.
I think Zoo will cut it by 3 weeks in.
1 Like
I had this same thought. Genius works because there are activators like scarab egg and witchwood imp. Even still, if done early in the game it can often be a neutral play tempo wise or worse. (Sure a coined egg into genius can be an amazing swing, it might also just get cleared)
I still think it’s a strong card though. I’m curious to see what it could do in another form of aggro warlock or mid-range deck. Someone else mentioned demon warlock. That’s the kind of deck where I think it would really shine.
It wouldn’t be the worst choice in Zoo but I’m hard pressed to think of what I’d want to remove from my decklist for it. My more flexible spots are things like Leeroy, snip-snap, crystallizer/bloodsail bucanneer or spellbreaker. These are mostly specific tech choices and a finisher. I’ve previously tried other things in the 1-drop flex spot but the crystallizer or buccaneer have always performed better than more expensive choices, even when they looked solid on paper.
My above post was mean to be directed at you but I’m on my phone and messed it up. eek
Between EVIL Cable Rat and EVIL Genius I find myself usually having a lackey when 4 mana is available to me. If they add another lackey generator for Warlock that will only improve the deck’s consistency, but I would still run this regardless. It’s actually a little better than a turn 4 8/8 because if you target the 5/5 with removal you still have a solid 3/3 on the board. This will absolutely elevate zoo to the next level.