Hearthstone: New Legendaries for Warrior and Druid

Blizzard continues to tease out information about the upcoming Journey to Un’Goro expansion, and we’ve finally seen the new legendaries for Warrior and Druid. Both of them are massive freaking dinosaurs, which is good, because dinosaurs are pretty cool. Warrior’s new legendary minion is, in fact, dinosaur royalty–King Mosh is a nine mana 9/7 whose Battlecry destroys all damaged minions. Druid’s legendary, Tyrantus, sounds scary on paper–a fearsome 12/12 that costs ten mana and can’t be targeted by spells or Hero Powers.

Warrior’s Legendary: King Mosh

King Mosh is interesting. My first reaction was to write off the card entirely. It costs too much, and it’s hard to combo. Think about your options as far as combinations go–you’re limited to just Whirlwind, since Emperor Thaurisan is rotating out. I simply can’t see this card being strong enough to see play. If it were only enemy minions, I could definitely see it. It’s a great turn 10 swing, or a way to recover the board against Jades. But it also kills all damaged minions. Maybe it’s strong enough to play a 10 mana two card combo that kills everything and makes a 9/7? My gut says no, since Deathwing isn’t strong enough by himself.

King Mosh does have potential, however. The only thing he lacks right now is cards that work well with what he brings to the table. Realistically, he needs some new cards to help him out. Without adding cards that synergize with King Mosh, the only way he could be viable is if the current metagame slows down substantially.

Druid’s Legendary: Tyrantus

The new Druid legendary is one of the biggest beasts to roam the lands, on par with legendary Dragons. Let’s give a warm welcome to Tyrantus, a ten mana 12/12 that cannot be targeted by spells or abilities. I have to admit, Tyrantus an interesting card. If it were a legendary for any other class, he’d simply be too slow and you’d be better off spending your dust on Quests. However, traditional Ramp Druid can hit ten mana easily on turn seven. If you’re able to play Innervate, ten mana is achievable by turn five or six. Whipping out a 12/12 that can’t be targeted on turn six is certainly an appealing option. Keep in mind that we’re not even factoring in the possibility of combining Tyrantus with Astral Communion, although that will be limited to Wild.

There are two major things stopping Tyrantus from being playable. The first is the speed of the meta. Journey to Un’Goro looks like it’s going to slow down the pace of Hearthstone a bit, but I said that about Mean Streets of Gadgetzan as well, and look what happened there.

If the meta remains anywhere near our current speed, slow cards like Tyrantus–especially ones that don’t impact the board during the turn they’re played–are borderline useless. Even if you ramp up and bring them out on turn five, you’re simply dead the next turn.

The other thing that’s standing in the way of Tyrantus is Jades. Dinosaurs might be inherently badass, but Jades are simply too powerful. Why would you play Ramp Druid if you can get a stronger minion on the same turn without ramping? Jade Druid offers too much consistency and power for Ramp Druid and cards like Tyrantus to serve as a viable alternative. Unless Jades become less reliable, Ramp Druid will be nothing more than a fun deck. Tyrantus is a strong card, but there’s just no reason to use him when you’re able to play one mana 12/12s instead.