Icecrown Previews - Throwing Warrior a Bone

September 13, 2010

It is rare that a card comes along that has as much potential to be a format-defining and key piece of a new archetype. In the MMO, Heroic Throw is one of the final abilities a level 80 warrior trains and a key one to gain threat, pull enemies, and deal effective damage. Heroic Throw is a powerful weapon in the warrior arsenal, and it will be for Warriors in the Trading Card Game as well.

Heroic Throw is already an efficient damage ability with four damage for four, but the real strength of this card is obviously the option to make it free. Essentially gaining four resources for one card is a massive savings, especially for Warriors. This brings up the classic argument of tempo versus card advantage. Assuming you are using Heroic Throw to destroy a good sized ally and use the alternate cost, clearly you are putting yourself in a 1 for 2 situation, obvious card dis-advantage. What you lose in the card department, you make up in the time and resource department; you’ve opened up those four resources.

One of the problems aggressive Warrior decks have had in the past is an inability at times to empty their hand quickly get its cards into play. This was especially true due to weapons clogging up those grips. Heroic Throw will certainly solve that problem. Many aggressive Warrior decks modeled off of Death Wish or Mortal Strike are typically forced to play eight to twelve weapons to provide consistency in drawing this key ingredient. In the past, the secondary ability of Vindicator’s Brand was enough of an incentive, turning your extra copies of the weapons into slightly more expensive The Natural Orders. Heroic Throw gives you an efficient and powerful way to deal with the classic problem of drawing too many of a key component of your deck and having nothing to do with the multiples.

How can you make this perceived card disadvantage into a boon for your deck? Well the first thing is that many aggressive decks in constructed typically play an aggressive quest containing some combination of Orders from Lady Vashj and/or Akama’s Promise. Besides the “small hand” strategy, there are several other ways to turn the card disadvantage into a strength. First, there is the use of Twinblade of the Phoenix that can be played from your graveyard at any time, so you are not truly “losing” the weapon you pitched as an alternate cost. We know there will be weapons with Death Rattle in Icecrown, previewed earlier by our lead designer Ben Cichoski with Stormstrike Mace. Assuming there is a similar option for Warriors we are in another situation where the “cost” of discarding a card is mitigated by the Death Rattle on the card you pitch.

There are other cards in Icecrown we have seen that also support the “all-in” strategy that Heroic Throw supports. First, the free epic Babaganoosh the Grumpy will leave you with no hand after bringing his powerful efficient body into play. If you are going to lose your hand on the first few turns anyway, why not use two of them to deal a fast four damage to your opponent? The Nerubian Faction also clearly benefits from the alternate cost on Heroic Throw with an ability and equipment rapidly hitting the graveyard. The powerful 1 drop Azjol-anak Skirmisher promotes having no cards in your hand to start the turn, again helped by using a fast two-for-one. Combined with the various Death Rattle cards (and hopefully more to come!) this could be a powerful and efficient deck in the near future.

Finally, Heroic Throw makes excellent ancillary use of previously powerful Warrior abilities. Keys to the Armory already sees play in most Warrior decks, but now it has the added benefit of finding you the weapon you need to discard to Heroic Throw, therefore increasing your chances of playing it for free. Reconstruct is a powerful tool for typical Death Wish slower Warrior builds, but now with the advantage of discarding a weapon, it is likely that it will appear in aggressive builds as well. The cost savings of Reconstruct is significant for an aggressive deck that can support it, another resource and time saving device.

Overall Heroic Throw is not only going to be a powerful tool in the aggressive Warrior arsenal, but a staple card for years to come!

-Scott Landis