Rise of Shadows Pre Release

April 7, 2019 5 min read

Rise of Shadows is Hearthstone’s latest expansion - this week I hosted a private pre-release party to open my packs early and play with the cards.

Having pre-ordered both bundles I had 131 packs to open on the day 1. Although I set aside a lot of gold for RoS pack purchase won’t be open until the expansion goes live, and the same goes for crafting cards and pre-order/expansion launch bonuses. I was lucky2 and opened 10 legendary cards.

  • Keeper Stalladris
  • Lucentbark
  • Khadgar
  • Kalecgos
  • Tak Nozwhisker
  • Swampqueen Hagatha
  • Fel Lord Betrug
  • Arch-Villain Rafaam
  • Chef Nomi
  • Archivist Elysiana

Overall I pretty pleased with my haul! I was keen to get building decks and start playing with the cards but unfortunately Blizzard only offer a ‘Any class. As many cards as you want.’ mode at pre-releases which is far removed from standard! Despite that I played a few games of the format during which I had plenty of fun loading up decks with 11 copies of Bronze Herald!

Whilst I opened a good portion of the set, most of the legendaries I opened weren’t cards I was looking to build around (save from Hagatha), that said I’m pretty stoked with my haul. At the moment Stalladris, Elysiana, and Kalecgos are looking like some of the stronger cards from the set. I’m keen to see how effective Heistbaron Toggwaggle, Blastmaster Boom, and Madame Lazul are, none of them seem to be auto-crafts but are intriguing cards that could be meta-shaping.

#Rise of Shadows Decks

Here are a few decks I’m interested in trying in the first few days of the expansion.

#Mage

Mage really struggled last expansion but has a number of strong end-game threats in Kalecgos and Jan’alai, the Dragonhawk. I think there’s a lot of potential for a control-oriented list that controls to the end game and generates large amounts of value with cards like Hex Lord Malacrass and Kalecgos. It also has big threat potential with Khadgar and Astromancer/Power of Creation.

Mana Card Name Qty Links
1 Daring Fire-Eater 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Doomsayer 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Khadgar 1 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Messenger Raven 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Phantom Militia 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Voodoo Doll 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Hecklebot 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Polymorph 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Blast Wave 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Zilliax 1 HSReplay,Wiki
6 Blizzard 2 HSReplay,Wiki
6 Toki, Time-Tinker 1 HSReplay,Wiki
7 Astromancer 2 HSReplay,Wiki
7 Flamestrike 2 HSReplay,Wiki
7 Jan’alai, the Dragonhawk 1 HSReplay,Wiki
8 Hex Lord Malacrass 1 HSReplay,Wiki
8 Power of Creation 2 HSReplay,Wiki
10 Kalecgos 1 HSReplay,Wiki

Total Dust: 14360

Deck Code: AAECAf0EBs/vAqCAA6iHA6+HA5aaA4qeAwxNigHJA+wHquwCt/ECw/gCpocDzYkDlZQD55UDoJsDAA==

#Rogue

Rogue looks like it’s been given some insane tools this expansion and academic espionage was already an incredibly powerful card. This deck already existed before the Year of the Dragon but Tak Nozwhisker and Vendetta make it far stronger. There’s potentially room here to drop the pirate package and go greedier with Face Collector, Spirit of the Shark, etc.

ana Card Name Qty Links
0 Backstab 1 HSReplay,Wiki
0 Preparation 2 HSReplay,Wiki
1 Deadly Poison 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Sap 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Underbelly Fence 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Blink Fox 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Fan of Knives 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Raiding Party 1 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Academic Espionage 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Hench-Clan Burglar 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Spectral Cutlass 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Vendetta 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Captain Greenskin 1 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Zilliax 1 HSReplay,Wiki
6 Unidentified Contract 2 HSReplay,Wiki
7 Sprint 2 HSReplay,Wiki
7 Tak Nozwhisker 1 HSReplay,Wiki
8 Tess Greymane 1 HSReplay,Wiki

Total Dust: 10260

Deck Code: AAECAaIHBrQByAPr8AKggAPVjAOImwMMywPNA/YEmwWGCerzAqj3Asf4AvOUA5CXA/uaA/6aAwA=

This is a slightly less refined rogue deck that includes Heistbaron Toggwaggle, it keeps the basic pirate shell and attempts to fit in lackeys and Heistbaron to generate massive value.

Mana Card Name Qty Links
0 Backstab 2 HSReplay,Wiki
1 Crystallizer 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 EVIL Cable Rat 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Eviscerate 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Sap 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Underbelly Fence 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Blink Fox 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 EVIL Miscreant 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Edwin VanCleef 1 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Hench-Clan Thug 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Southsea Captain 1 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Hench-Clan Burglar 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Ticket Scalper 1 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Vendetta 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Zilliax 1 HSReplay,Wiki
6 Cursed Castaway 2 HSReplay,Wiki
6 Heistbaron Togwaggle 1 HSReplay,Wiki
8 Captain Hooktusk 1 HSReplay,Wiki

Total Dust: 8720

Deck Code: AAECAaIHBrICqAWq/wKggAOSlwPWjAMMtAH6/gK0kQOIB80D+5oDx/gCj5cDpu8CkJcD/poD3+8CAA==

#Warrior

Warrior has always been my favourite class 3 and it seems to me like there are plenty of directions warrior can go in. A tempo oriented rush deck, a control mech-bomb archetype, a grindy control dragon deck, or a Mecha’thun combo deck. It’s definitely going to hurt losing Baku, the Mooneater but Dr. Boom, Mad Genius is one of the three hero cards left in the game and that kind of value turn on turn is hard to beat.

This basic shell looks like a good starting point for a basic control deck. It may need Elysiana added for additional value in fatigue.

Mana Card Name Qty Links
1 Eternium Rover 2 HSReplay,Wiki
1 Omega Assembly 2 HSReplay,Wiki
1 Shield Slam 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Execute 2 HSReplay,Wiki
2 Warpath 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Bronze Gatekeeper 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Fiery War Axe 2 HSReplay,Wiki
3 Shield Block 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Omega Devastator 2 HSReplay,Wiki
4 Proud Defender 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Brawl 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Dyn-o-matic 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Supercollider 2 HSReplay,Wiki
5 Zilliax 1 HSReplay,Wiki
6 Safeguard 2 HSReplay,Wiki
7 Dr. Boom, Mad Genius 1 HSReplay,Wiki

Total Dust: 7200

Deck Code: AAECAQcCkvgCoIADDkuRA6IEkQb/B5vzAqX1AoP7Ao77Ap77ArP8AsCYA8KZA5KfAwA=


  1. One pack came from the Tavern Brawl the week before ↩︎

  2. For that many packs (assuming they were my first packs of the set) you’d expect 7 legendary cards ↩︎

  3. Warrior is the only class I’ve got the golden hero for! ↩︎

See Also

Last Updated: 2022-04-06 13:57