I have to admit I've been finding it a bit of a slog going through the Worldbreaker spoiler in preparation for writing this - there's 270 cards to go through and half way through the list you've forgotten the ones you wanted to look at to begin with!
After a bit of a lazy weekend, I took another look at Magic Workstation - a program that lets you play card games online. I've been saying for ages that the trial version doesn't let you play online - turns out I was wrong, I just hadn't figured out how to do it yet. With that, I jumped into a Worldbreaker sealed tournament that Tinytode from the official forums was running to get a bit of a handle on some of these new cards.
It's not quite the same as opening six packs of Worldbreaker - I got sent my random list of cards only to find out that I'd got three Contagious Poisons, which would have been lovely if I had also received any weapons or methods to give my hero ATK/Assault! My other rares were Rolan Phoenix, Repurposed Lava Dredger and Onslaught. I ended up playing none of them, sticking with Rogue anyway for the two copies of Bully and a Gouge. It was either that or Warrior, where I had two Execute and three Etched Dragonbone Girdles, but I decided it would be best not to dilute my deck too much and stuck with the class that had some simple removal.
I'm not going to post the whole decklist as nobody cares about a 4/3 with no text, but will elaborate on a few of the cards that stood out to me over the four rounds played.
My pool contained two Kerzok Plixboom, and he was the card that swung me into Horde, despite opening a Rolan Phoenix and three Zuur* on the Alliance side. Long-range cards have historically been underpowered due to the fact they effectively damage 'for free' but Kerzok is really rather good. Sure, he's fragile, but especially in limited, drop him on an empty board and your opponent won't even be able to take him out with an ally with Ferocity; it's removal/direct damage or face having all your allies eaten for free.
*Rolan and Zuur were my biggest Nature allies; recurring guys that attack for 3 didn't seem like a particularly earthshattering gameplan, but after playing some rounds, you really can't ignore the fact that he gets you a card when you play him, even if it just ends up face down in your row.
Onnekra Bloodfang has been talked about a lot - the lovechild of Bloodsoul and Offender Gora, and looks like a baby. Great on your first turn in limited but not so much during the rest of the game, when you really want the flexibility to be able to attack allies too.
Ceraka is incredibly dangerous in limited - one of my games tonight finished with me running a few weenies into my opponent on turn 5, dropping Ceraka, flipping a quest and letting them see whether they could deal with it before I burned them for 12 the next turn. Oddly enough they couldn't. I see her as a good finisher in an Orc deck, though how viable an Orc deck is these days remains to be seen...
I had very few Emerald Dragonkin in my pool, but the Ruby ones were a funny bunch - dropping Ruby Stalker and Ruby Flameblade on turns one and two was pretty strong, but a Ruby Enforcer on turn three is just a ferocious dude with one health. If your Flameblade didn't make it to turn three then it might be a ferocious dude with one health that can't kill much. From the three-drop onwards, the Ruby Dragonkin provide desirable effects with the drawback of below-average stats. They really help bolster an existing board of allies - even one ally can gain a lot from a Ruby companion - but topdeck one on an empty board and you may find yourself wanting.
Traxel Emberklik is one of the reasons you may find a late-game Ruby Dragonkin lacking. This guy is hard to kill and will generally get in for two or three pings before getting eaten. I lost a game to a Priest playing two of them - Mend 1 and Lockjaw meant I didn't manage to kill either, and felt compelled to concede when I was staring down a field of two ready Traxels and was holding three allies with two health. (Yes, yes: 'Worgens, lol')
Quests were generally crap - Challenge to the Black Flight is usually a Pay 2 Draw 1, though I did manage P2D2 once. Cleansing Witch Hill is great if you can get it, and The Essence of Emnity is the only one of the search quests that's worth playing in limited. Quest selection will probably make or break a lot of decks at the upcoming weekend's events - if you open a selection of quests that search for abilities and equipment you may be in for a long day. Any Quest you can complete for 2 is pretty much a must-play, and A Matter of Time is deceptively playable - it's three to draw a card at minimum, and if Everfrost can see play in a DMF-winning deck (albeit partly due to it's added power, which helped avoid Mages being able to fish anything useful out of their graveyards with Flickers from the Past), then you can certainly make use of this in a format where cards are so hard to come by.
I went 2-2 in the end, which after building my pool was two wins better off than I thought I'd be at the end of the event. Cards that let you draw and cards that let you destroy equipment are going to be very important in Worldbreaker sealed; Master Heroes may as well be a face-down resource in your deck, and the Goblins are definitely a match for the Worgen.
Best of luck next weekend!
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