Hearthstone: Knights of the Frozen Throne - Analyzing Thrall, Deathseer

Blizzard has kicked off Death Knight Hero week and, as promised, the creators of Hearthstone have begun unveiling the remainder of the Hero Cards for the card game's upcoming Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion.

Today, Blizzard is looking at Thrall and the Shaman is getting a special boost for all of his friends. Shacknews is here to take a deeper dive into today's class, looking at its synergies, viability, and damage potential.

Let's look at Thrall, Deathseer that players face with the new-look Shaman.

(5) Thrall, Deathseer
Type: Hero
Class: Shaman
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Transform our minions into random ones that cost (2) more. Gain 5 Armor.
Source: Tempo Storm

Hero Power: Transmute Spirit
Transform a friendly minion into a random one that costs (1) more.

First Look

As our interview with Hearthstone's developers from a few weeks ago implied, certain Death Knight heroes will allow for certain deck archetypes. The Shaman is the first to fit a particular play style, as it builds further on the Evolve Shaman that has taken the meta by storm over the last expansion.

The Hero Power upgrade is an interesting one for Thrall, because it means sacrificing the neverending Totem parada that ensures there's a minion on-board at all times. So it's worth asking whether the Hero Power trade is going to be worthwhile at Turn 5.

Synergies

The obvious synergy involves the aforementioned Evolve Shaman. These Shamans spend the early game building massive board presence through the use of Fire Fly, Argent Squire, and similar low-cost minions. The hope is to use Bloodlust as a finisher. However, if the game goes to the late turns, the idea is then to use the combination of Doppelgangster and Evolve to bring out a trio of heavy-hitting (in theory) 6-mana minions. It's a deck that's proven reliable and one used regularly in the pro circuit.

Thrall, Deathseer allows for those minions on-board to immediately evolve into minions that cost (2) more, which can be massive upgrade. The only issue here, as mentioned, is the loss of the Hero Power totem, which helps bring down the cost of Thing from Below, but if there are enough minions on the board, it's a worthwhile play.

Of course, there's no rule that says Thrall, Deathseer must be played on Turn 5. In fact, if players wait for the late game, the Doppelgangster/Hero Card combo fit perfectly into a 10-mana play. That would up the costs of the former 5-mana 2/2 minions into three 7-cost minions, which could be nasty.

Playing Against Thrall, Deathseer

Thrall, Deathseer isn't nearly as daunting an opponent as Deathstalker Rexxar or Frost Lich Jaina, simply because the previous two classes had potentially limitless resources. Thrall, on the other hand, is entirely dependent on his resources, so in order to take the Death Knight down, it's a simple matter of clearing the board.

The Turn 5 Death Knight play can be taken away by clearing the board of all of the Shaman's low-cost minions. Eventually, the Shaman will be able to get resources on the board, especially if he pulls off that Doppelgangster/Hero Card combo on Turn 10. But anyone that can clear the board with cards like Twisting Nether, Brawl, Flamestrike, or Dragonfire Potion gives Thrall nothing to work with.

In fact, a well-timed Deathwing should provide an exclamation point on this matchup quite nicely. If Thrall, Deathseer has no answers and nothing to evolve, it should be game over.

The rest of the Death Knights are coming! Blizzard has promised that the remainder of the Death Knight Heroes will be unveiled over the course of the week, so keep an eye on Shacknews for analysis on each one. Also, be on the lookout for analysis on the rest of the expansion's cards over the next couple of weeks.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?