Players have been roaming the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, Hearthstone’s fourth expansion, for almost two weeks. Pros, content creators, and fans spent the last month trying to predict the best and worst cards of this expansion, but only now have we seen them in action on the ladder. The meta is still in quite a bit of flux, but it’s not too early to see if some cards have overperformed or failed to live up to the hype. Let’s dig into the cards of this set that have had the most surprising performance thus far.
1. Patches the Pirate
He’s in charge of the ladder now! Most people who reviewed cards from Mean Streets of Gadzetzan thought Patches was great, but few correctly guessed just how ubiquitous this card would be two weeks in. Pirate Warrior is far and away the most popular deck on the ladder at the moment, and this card shows up in every one of those games based on his extremely strong effect.
2. Dirty Rat
Trying to run a deck to counter all those pesky pirates or stay alive with your Reno-style no duplicates deck? Well, Dirty Rat might just be your key to victory. He has an absurdly strong statline for his mana cost and a Battlecry effect that’s great against aggro decks or in combination with Mind Control Tech.
3. Wrathion
One of the most lauded cards coming into the expansion, Wrathion hasn’t quite lived up to the hype. On paper, it seems like the card has a lot to offer Dragon decks. Card draw has always come at a premium in Hearthstone (especially for Dragon decks that rely on in-hand card synergy), and mid-game taunt minions to staunch the bleeding caused by aggro decks is always nice. However, the most popular and successful deck he’d fit into at the moment, Dragon Priest, doesn’t see him in use. With Dragon Priest already owning a decent way of gaining cards through Power Word: Shield and Azure Drake, Wrathion’s unpredictable effect and lack of Dragon tagging make him too underwhelming to break into decklists.
4. Kabal Courier
Kabal Courier is potentially the card that has seen the biggest discrepancy between its pre-expansion reviews and current amount of play. Most saw its bad stat-line as too much of a barrier for being played, but cards like Museum Curator and Ethereal Conjurer have shown us the value in Discovering specific cards despite bad stats. Currently, the card fits into Reno-style decks for any Kabal class as well as some more value-focused Mage decks.
5. Jade Swarmer
People didn’t expect Rogue to be strong this expansion, and two weeks into Mean Streets, that consensus still hasn’t changed much. But if there is one deck that’s been outdoing expectations for the class so far, it’s a Jade Golem variant with Deathrattles. Jade Swarmer is a big reason for the relative success of the deck. Dropping it on turn 2 means an almost certain target for an Unearthed Raptor on the next turn, granting solid early-game tempo, Golem ramping, and a body to be brought back by N’Zoth later.
Keep track of all the new cards on Gamepedia’s Hearthstone Wiki.
Bryan Herren
Pairing a love of DOTA 2 with traditional sports statistics, Bryan previously worked as a statsman for internationally renowned gaming tournaments. He then joined the Beyond the Summit crew to help design and develop several features for the game, such as Teamfight Recap. Now, he lives in Alabama with his wife and works as a freelance production assistant and writer.