The cycle of Hearthstone continues undaunted, regardless of competitors or any missteps. Despite the decline in interest and the number of players, a physiological situation for a card game already four years old aimed at a casual audience, Blizzard it does not seem to have any intention of upsetting a product that, up to now, has blown the company's coffers out of all proportion. Even without the founding fathers, Hearthstone It then continues its life cycle with its head down, giving players exactly what they expect. Rastakhan's Challenge therefore it is no exception with its 135 cards (of which ninety are equally divided class and forty-five neutral) and tries to carry on until next year, when the rotation of the expansions should finally be able to propose a fresh and more lively meta. We waited for the waters to calm down before writing this review to try to understand if, and how, the insertion of the new cards would have really changed the decks that have been good and bad weather to date.
135 new cards, few really useful ones
The first thing to do to check the effective effectiveness of a CCG expansion is to simply look at how many of the new cards find space in the meta. Unfortunately in this Rastakhan's Challenge aligns with Operation Apocalypse, making only a handful of cards really useful and indispensable. This time, however, the news touches all types of decks and if the old top tier decks continue to remain so with no - or very few - changes, other decks that were struggling to get to the top of the charts have risen by a few steps. For example, we are talking about a completely new OTK shovel, a very strong spell hunter but also an interesting dragon warrior who flank new priests, discard locks and hunters based solely on beasts. A good amount of decks circulating and trying to make the games different, with satisfactory results for now. The real strength of this expansion, which does not have a power level very high it must be said, we will see it anyway in a few weeks when the experiments will end and we will fossilize again on a handful of decks to farm and reach the legend. If as a variety, at the moment, you can not complain are the new mechanics that seem to be nothing in particular, and the thing that leaves the most disconcerted is the lack of introduction of new ones. keyword really impacting, which, unfortunately, has already happened from several expansions. If in short Assault the new keyword took the place of Carica, to the great chagrin of those who loved to close with surprise combinations Annihilation it still doesn't seem to be characteristic enough. Basically, this new keyword activates its effect if the damage generated exceeds that necessary to kill the target creature. It can be found on creatures, weapons, or even spells, and it's a simple extra effect that adds value to your plays. It is a situational keyword and for this it will not find space in the future, not how much Charge at least, a keyword that works at any time without the need for other correlated elements. Among other novelties we find the Loa, spirits of trolls with special powers: with Rastakhan's Challenge each class is assigned a loa, usually a creature with zero attack, three health, and immunity on the turn it is played, capable of placing high value on subsequent cards. For example, the Loa of the Thief doubles all battle cries, making synergies with pirates or Kingsbane interesting, while the Loa of the Paladin allows you to summon creatures with the cost equal to that of a spell just cast. Currently they look like interesting cards and could come in handy in the future, but that's nothing compared to the power level offered by the Death Knights. As a demonstration of what has been said are the first competitive tournaments to return not exactly exciting feedback, with the pros still reluctant to experiment and look for solutions that can really break the meta. In short, if you are waiting for the revolution of the game, it will only arrive in April.
An adventure for everyone
The new singleplayer adventure completes the package of Rastakhan's Challenge, thanks to which it will be possible to obtain an exclusive back for our deck. This time, instead of having to complete it several times as it was for Kobolds and Catacombs, it will be enough to defeat the final boss on a single occasion to grab the coveted reward. In pure Gurubashi theme, our adventurers will have to challenge eight trolls in sequence under the supervision of King Rastakhan and aided by the sanctuaries, exclusive cards of this competition with the most disparate effects. Everything then takes place as per Kobolds and Catacombs, with the player choosing a class (linked to his sanctuary) and then progressing gradually through the battles building the deck with the reward cards that are provided to him. The bosses are inspired by the archetypes already seen on Hearthstone, like the control shovel, the rogue miracle or the discard lock but obviously they come with enhanced versions and much more complex to destroy. Sufficient therefore overall even if not particularly original or revolutionary: is it possible that the ideas for the single player mode are already finished after such a short time? Finally, we close by talking about the fluctuating quality of the artworks, which range as usual from some incredibly beautiful designs to others less detailed and cared for. Also from this point of view, in our opinion, an extra effort should be made given what the competition is offering in this period. Gwent has shown magnificent things, Magic has inspired artwork and curated animations not to mention Artifact which, among the card games, is probably the most beautiful to see. From upcoming expansions of Hearthstone in short, we really expect an extra gear.
Comment
Tested version PC Windows Resources4Gaming.com7.0
Readers (7)
6.6
Your voteRastakhan's Challenge is another passing expansion, a simple step towards the revolution that will come, fortunately and forcibly, only next April. The new keywords do not seem to be particularly impactful and we can count a dozen of interesting cards on the entire pool at our disposal, too little to think of being able to change a meta formed by well-established and extremely solid decks. They also underline the new adventure that places itself a step below the missions of Kobolds and Catacombs and is even less original than the riddles seen in Operation Apocalypse.
PRO
- Loa are interesting
- Some cards with a good power level ...
- ... but too few to change destination
- Adventure subdued and low replayability
- If you haven't loved the Neapolitan location of trolls, we have bad news for you ...
