Our work-in-progress guide to the intriguing new Rise of Shadows card.
Jepetto Joybuzz was announced by the Hearthstone team a little earlier on this week, and at first glance it seems to be the signature new “gimmick” card that will be available for every hero to mess around with and try to form a consistent one-turn-kill (OTK) deck around.
In that sense, it’s a little bit like Mecha’thun who was introduced with last August’s Boomdsay Project. In that context, you’ll understand why we rather nervously put quotation marks around “gimmick”…
Although not every hero found a way to make a competitive deck built around the mighty Mech, a few found came to make a big impact on the meta regardless. Although we suspect Blizzard wants to steer the game away from OTK decks, don’t be surprised if someone manages to make this one work, even if it’s some time after launch…
The most obvious candidate that occurred to pretty much everyone was Malygos and – in the case of Priest – Malygos and Prophet Velen. Pop these two onto the board at a cost of one mana each and you have the potential for a very big burn play indeed. Let’s see how it turns out when Rise of Shadows goes live in April.
In this first edition of our Jepetto Joybuzz guide, we’re highlighting some of Hearthstone’s most impactful cards that don’t rely on their Health and Attack stats to get the job done.
Once card reveal season has concluded, we’ll add in some deck lists for each class that you can mess around with at launch. Just keep in mind this will likely be an experimental archetype for some time, so don’t craft anything too expensive.
Skip to around 8:34 in the video above for Trump’s thoughts on Jepetto Joybuzz!
Jepetto Joybuzz Cards
Here are some of the biggest cards that might work well in conjunction with Jepetto:
- Alexstrasza
- Archmage Antonidas
- Captain Hooktusk
- Heistbaron Togwaggle
- Jan’alai, the Dragonhawk
- Kalecgos
- Kathrena Winterwisp [WILD]
- King Togwaggle
- Lord Jaraxxus
- Malygos
- Mecha’thun
- Prophet Velen
- Shudderwock
- Swampqueen Hagatha
Jepetto Joybuzz Combos
As Trump noted in the video published this week – and which we’ve embedded for you just above – there are a couple of obvious combos that come to mind with Jepetto:
- For the Mage, you might consider playing a 1 / 1 Alexstrasza, then Sorcerer’s Apprentice, then two Fireball spells and a Frostbolt to get the job done. You have to also hope that the opponent doesn’t have any Armor to help mitigate the damage, however.
- Another Mage option would involve fielding Archmage Antonidas along with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and cascading all those Fireballs into the opponent’s face.
The main problem with this Legendary, of course, is that you run the risk of drawing into your core minions before you get to play Jepetto. They’re no longer in your deck, and so you’re not going to be able to convert them into 1 / 1 equivalents by making your Jepetto move.
Other commentators have considered the possibility of shuffling any – temporarily – unwanted minions back into your deck pile somehow, so that they can be converted by Jepetto on a future turn. There’s no guarantee that they won’t make another appearance before they’re due though.
We’re going to have to see how this one pans out, but it’s possible Blizzard wants this to be a fun card that lacks the consistency to really be competitive. Famous last words, perhaps…
Jepetto Joybuzz Decks
Once we’ve got a proper look at all the new Rise of Shadows cards, we’ll highlight some of the best Jepetto Joybuzz deck lists that have been prepared for launch in this very section.
Think Jepetto has the potential to see competitive play in the new upcoming meta? Let us know of your own combo thoughts in the comments!
You can also catch up on everything to do with the expansion in our comprehensive Rise of Shadows guide.
