Whispers of The Old Gods Second Old God - N'Zoth, Revealed

[Steven Bogos]

Whispers of The Old Gods Second Old God - N'Zoth, Revealed

N'zoth, the Hearthstone expansion's second old god, is built around the "deathrattle" mechanic.

Blizzard has been slowly revealing Hearthstone [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/hearthstone] cards for its upcoming Whispers of The Old Gods expansion, and now it's revealed one of the expansion's major players: the second Old God. N'Zoth, The Corrupter's appearance in Hearthstone actually marks the very first time he is depicted in Warcraft lore. While his influence has been seen on many of the major calamities that have afflicted the world (of Warcraft), he has never actually been shown before.

Check him out in all his golden glory:



As you can see, his "gimmick" if you will, is built around the deathrattle mechanic. With both Goblins vs. Gnomes and Naxxaramas leaving the standard format, his effect isn't quite as powerful, although when paired with classic minions like Tirion Fordring and Sylvanas, he can really turn games.

Additionally, Blizzard has revealed a bunch of new cards since we last checked in [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/166919-Hearthstone-Whispers-of-The-Old-Gods-Cards-Revealed#&gid=gallery_6039&pid=1], including some new deathrattle cards that should have good synergy with N'Zoth:

[gallery=6081]

Source: Blizzard [http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20073614]

Permalink

 

[rcs619]

So C'Thun is battlecry and N'Zoth is deathrattle. I'm super curious about what the other two Old Gods do, because the first two have been great. I love how they're creating these huge boss-monsters you can build a deck around. It's a neat change from most legendaries just, sort of being thrown in to support a deck.

Honestly, a lot of good stuff so far. Tentacle of N'Zoth and N'Zoth's first mate seem like nice 1-drops. Shaman gets a legendary that isn't actually terrible (I'm looking at you, Mistcaller). Undercity Huckster is just good, and I think Brood of N'Zoth could really work in a few different zoo-type decks. I'm not completely sold on faceless shambler, although basically being able to stick two more faceless manipulators in your deck is kind of cool.

DOOM! is a cool side-grade to twisting nether. The potential card draw is insane, but warlock doesn't often really need a ton of draw that late in a game. I could see some decks running one based on personal preference. Some renolocks will run a twisting nether every now and then.

Renounce Darkness is just hilarious though. "Oh, you thought you were playing against a warlock? Guess again, buddy!" Almost certainly not competitive, but I could definitely see it being fun for streams and just casual screwing around.

So far so good Blizzard. I'm pretty sure this expansion already has more objectively good cards than all of TGT.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Wow.... Doom is so awful. Warlock doesn't have trouble drawing cards. In fact, if you look at the control Warlock decks that this could go into, you'd see that they usually have an almost full hand. I could see it being good in another class, but in Warlock, it's strictly worse than Twisting Nether.

I'm pretty excited for Hallazeal though.

 

[Korenith]

Wow.... Doom is so awful. Warlock doesn't have trouble drawing cards. In fact, if you look at the control Warlock decks that this could go into, you'd see that they usually have an almost full hand. I could see it being good in another class, but in Warlock, it's strictly worse than Twisting Nether.

I'm pretty excited for Hallazeal though.

I think they were planning for it to be used with "Renounce Darkness" but of course the danger with that is if you have DOOM!! in your hand you're screwed

 

[Erttheking]

So in other words N'Zoth is pretty much going to be a must have for anyone who has a deathrattle deck. Also in order.

Doom! Eh. Like everyone else said, a Warlock doesn't really need draw that far in the game. Unless things are going REALLY bad.

Faceless Shambler. So kind of like Faceless Manipulator except it trades in not copying abilities for taunt and a lower cost. Fair enough.

Renounce Darkness: This could either be really worthless or utterly broken. I'll have to see it in practice.

Undercity Huckster: This kinds of cards are always helpful in a pinch.

Brood of N'Zoth: Ok card, but I get the feeling it's supposed to synergize with other N'Zoth cards.

Tentacle of N'Zoth: So basically a half price and half effective explosive sheep. MIGHT be helpful in a pinch, but the situation would be contextual as hell.

Hallazeal the Ascended: I can see a deck being built around this. It'd take some tinkering but it could be done.

N'Zoth's first mate. Eh. It's ok. I have to say, pirates don't fit the Lovecraft theme, so him being N'Zoth's "First mate" is kinda bleh.

 

[rcs619]

So in other words N'Zoth is pretty much going to be a must have for anyone who has a deathrattle deck. Also in order.

Yeah, now that I've seen N'Zoth, I can totally see why he was unprintable until now. Can you imagine how broken he'd be in a world where creeper, zombie chow, belcher, shredder and others were still in the game? I am curious what other new deathrattles we get though. I imagine to imagine there's more than a few, since N'Zoth is going to be so reliant on them.

Brood of N'Zoth: Ok card, but I get the feeling it's supposed to synergize with other N'Zoth cards.

I'd agree with that. I think the lil guy could be pretty sweet in a zoo-type deck too. Token deck as well if they're still a thing once dragon egg and nerubian are gone.

Speaking of, I hope we get some more cool token generators. Token decks are a lot of fun ^^

Hallazeal the Ascended: I can see a deck being built around this. It'd take some tinkering but it could be done.

Hallazeal + Lightning storm or elemental destruction is pretty scary to think about. Clear the board *and* heal a massive chunk of health. Maybe we'll finally start to see a more mid-range or control sort of shaman. Would be nice to have a couple options besides face-melting aggro.

I really want to see the new dragons and murlocs. I really think dragon-priest has a chance to make a comeback in standard, and with Old Murk-Eye going away, I'm curious if there's any new murlocs that could make an anyfin deck still viable in standard.

 

[Evonisia]

I know most of N'Zoth's minions are squid monsters and water based - and the Old Gods are heavily Lovecraft inspired - but I wish he looked less like just generic Lovecraft fanart.

 

[LostCrusader]

So in other words N'Zoth is pretty much going to be a must have for anyone who has a deathrattle deck. Also in order.

Yeah, now that I've seen N'Zoth, I can totally see why he was unprintable until now. Can you imagine how broken he'd be in a world where creeper, zombie chow, belcher, shredder and others were still in the game? I am curious what other new deathrattles we get though. I imagine to imagine there's more than a few, since N'Zoth is going to be so reliant on them.

Brood of N'Zoth: Ok card, but I get the feeling it's supposed to synergize with other N'Zoth cards.

I'd agree with that. I think the lil guy could be pretty sweet in a zoo-type deck too. Token deck as well if they're still a thing once dragon egg and nerubian are gone.

Speaking of, I hope we get some more cool token generators. Token decks are a lot of fun ^^

Hallazeal the Ascended: I can see a deck being built around this. It'd take some tinkering but it could be done.

Hallazeal + Lightning storm or elemental destruction is pretty scary to think about. Clear the board *and* heal a massive chunk of health. Maybe we'll finally start to see a more mid-range or control sort of shaman. Would be nice to have a couple options besides face-melting aggro.

I really want to see the new dragons and murlocs. I really think dragon-priest has a chance to make a comeback in standard, and with Old Murk-Eye going away, I'm curious if there's any new murlocs that could make an anyfin deck still viable in standard.

Shaman definitely needs some better options. Also, where did you hear Old Murk-Eye is going away? He isn't GvG or Naxx.

 

[rcs619]

Shaman definitely needs some better options. Also, where did you hear Old Murk-Eye is going away? He isn't GvG or Naxx.

He isn't core or basic either. Murk-Eye is actually a reward card. You're given him automatically as soon as you craft all the core/basic murlocs, and according to Blizzard's standard FAQ, reward cards like Old Murk-Eye, Elite Tauren Chieftain and Gelbin Mekkatorque will only be usable in wild.

It could always change, but that seems to be their current stance.

I just hope that, if they do, they give paladin some options. Losing avenge, shielded minibot, muster, belcher, loatheb and boom is going to kill secretdin, and losing Murk-Eye (I suspect) will not make anyfinadin really viable any more. Even midrange paladin loses a lot of the same tools secretdin loses. So yeah, paladin is going to need a whole new set of archetypes once standard hits.

I suspect druid will be in a similar boat (which is probably for the best, given how little druid has changed since GvG and Naxx).

 

[LostCrusader]

Shaman definitely needs some better options. Also, where did you hear Old Murk-Eye is going away? He isn't GvG or Naxx.

He isn't core or basic either. Murk-Eye is actually a reward card. You're given him automatically as soon as you craft all the core/basic murlocs, and according to Blizzard's standard FAQ, reward cards like Old Murk-Eye, Elite Tauren Chieftain and Gelbin Mekkatorque will only be usable in wild.

It could always change, but that seems to be their current stance.

I just hope that, if they do, they give paladin some options. Losing avenge, shielded minibot, muster, belcher, loatheb and boom is going to kill secretdin, and losing Murk-Eye (I suspect) will not make anyfinadin really viable any more. Even midrange paladin loses a lot of the same tools secretdin loses. So yeah, paladin is going to need a whole new set of archetypes once standard hits.

I suspect druid will be in a similar boat (which is probably for the best, given how little druid has changed since GvG and Naxx).

Well that will put a big dent in any murloc decks when they do it, but it also makes me a little relieved. They have been talking so much about taking out or changing the druid combo that them leaving in any fin as it is now seemed out of place to me.

I think midrange paladin is still going to be in an ok spot, especially if the game slows down so that they don't need all their anti agro cards.

 

[rcs619]

Well that will put a big dent in any murloc decks when they do it, but it also makes me a little relieved. They have been talking so much about taking out or changing the druid combo that them leaving in any fin as it is now seemed out of place to me.

I think midrange paladin is still going to be in an ok spot, especially if the game slows down so that they don't need all their anti agro cards.

To be fair, anyfin took way more skill and planning to play than druid combo. But yeah, probably just a *bit* too much burst. Even malygoslock (which is losing darkbomb D: ) could only do like, 17 with its spells, and it took even more setup with fewer board clears than anyfin (and could only combo once per game).

I feel like malygos-rogue may be strong in standard unless some of the core/classic rogue cards get hit. That alone may motivate me to actually pick up rogue finally, if they don't give malygoslock any more tools. I think dragon-priest has a chance of making a comeback too. Losing lightbomb and dark cultist sucks, but they don't lose much else.

I think midrange paladin could adapt to standard better than secretdin. All secretdin had going for it was the best curve in the game. Without that curve, I don't think the challenger is enough to hold things down on his own (also, Eater of Secrets is around to say hi in case I turn out to be wrong ). It just sort of depends what gets added and what gets nerfed. It's really hard to tell what standard will actually look like.

Lots of fun potential though.

 

[LostCrusader]

To be fair, anyfin took way more skill and planning to play than druid combo. But yeah, probably just a *bit* too much burst. Even malygoslock (which is losing darkbomb D: ) could only do like, 17 with its spells, and it took even more setup with fewer board clears than anyfin (and could only combo once per game).

I feel like malygos-rogue may be strong in standard unless some of the core/classic rogue cards get hit. That alone may motivate me to actually pick up rogue finally, if they don't give malygoslock any more tools. I think dragon-priest has a chance of making a comeback too. Losing lightbomb and dark cultist sucks, but they don't lose much else.

I think midrange paladin could adapt to standard better than secretdin. All secretdin had going for it was the best curve in the game. Without that curve, I don't think the challenger is enough to hold things down on his own (also, Eater of Secrets is around to say hi in case I turn out to be wrong ). It just sort of depends what gets added and what gets nerfed. It's really hard to tell what standard will actually look like.

Lots of fun potential though.

Dragon priest should still be good, only thing mine is losing is velen's. Can't say I will shed any tears about secretdin getting stomped though.

I could see malygos shaman making a comeback with the new spell healing legendary. Just needs maybe one more direct damage spell to fill crackle's spot.

Also, if you want to give rogue a try before the change, deathrattle raptor rogue is a ton of fun.

 

[rcs619]

Dragon priest should still be good, only thing mine is losing is velen's. Can't say I will shed any tears about secretdin getting stomped though.

I could see malygos shaman making a comeback with the new spell healing legendary. Just needs maybe one more direct damage spell to fill crackle's spot.

Also, if you want to give rogue a try before the change, deathrattle raptor rogue is a ton of fun.

That's right, priest is losing velen's too. Here's hoping they give us some new kind of buff or something. I know Brian Kibler said that there *were* dragons in the new expansion. They just haven't revealed them yet.

Main thing stopping me from playing rogue is I don't have a single preparation, and I'm kind of trying to hold out until the expansion hits and I open my pre-order packs to see what's good. Which can be annoying sometimes, admittedly. I kind of had an urge to play freeze mage the other day, but I don't have ice block.

 

[DoPo]

So in other words N'Zoth is pretty much going to be a must have for anyone who has a deathrattle deck.

I don't think so. A deathrattle deck would rely on many minions with the effect, while N'Zoth can, at most, bring up 6 of them. I assume the selection is either FIFO (first ones to die get resurrected until board is full) or less likely random. With FIFO N'Zoth would suck a bit in deathrattle decks, since you'd be resurrecting all of the cheapest minions you had and played by turn ~3. More of a mixed approach seems to be in favour when playing this card - you most likely want stuff like Sylvanas to get resurrected and shredders and stuff. It's the difference between raising 6 crappy minions and getting N'Zoth +

Sylvanas Windrunner
Cairne Bloodhoof
Stalagg
Feugen


If you bring that out, the game is pretty much immediately over. Cairne is sticky 4/5 while Stalag and Feugen would (correction) summon three 11/11 minions when they die. And there is Sylvanas, of course. Compare that with (choose 6 in total including a single duplicate) Leper Gnome, Webspinner, Clockwork Gnome, Loot Hoarder, Nerubian Egg, Mad Scientist, Haunted Creeper, Harvest Golem.

Fewer, more powerful Deathrattle minions work way better with N'Zoth than just putting it in any old deck.

 

[LostCrusader]

So in other words N'Zoth is pretty much going to be a must have for anyone who has a deathrattle deck.

I don't think so. A deathrattle deck would rely on many minions with the effect, while N'Zoth can, at most, bring up 6 of them. I assume the selection is either FIFO (first ones to die get resurrected until board is full) or less likely random. With FIFO N'Zoth would suck a bit in deathrattle decks, since you'd be resurrecting all of the cheapest minions you had and played by turn ~3. More of a mixed approach seems to be in favour when playing this card - you most likely want stuff like Sylvanas to get resurrected and shredders and stuff. It's the difference between raising 6 crappy minions and getting N'Zoth +

Sylvanas Windrunner
Cairne Bloodhoof
Stalagg
Feugen


If you bring that out, the game is pretty much immediately over. Cairne is sticky 4/5 while Stalag and Feugen would (correction) summon three 11/11 minions when they die. And there is Sylvanas, of course. Compare that with (choose 6 in total including a single duplicate) Leper Gnome, Webspinner, Clockwork Gnome, Loot Hoarder, Nerubian Egg, Mad Scientist, Haunted Creeper, Harvest Golem.

Fewer, more powerful Deathrattle minions work way better with N'Zoth than just putting it in any old deck.

It could be kind of hard to make a deck focused around N'Zoth with just a few big deathrattles. It would make him a lot weaker until you are pretty much in fatigue. But some of these new cheap deathrattles would probably work nicely with it too, especially undercity huckster.

That's right, priest is losing velen's too. Here's hoping they give us some new kind of buff or something. I know Brian Kibler said that there *were* dragons in the new expansion. They just haven't revealed them yet.

Main thing stopping me from playing rogue is I don't have a single preparation, and I'm kind of trying to hold out until the expansion hits and I open my pre-order packs to see what's good. Which can be annoying sometimes, admittedly. I kind of had an urge to play freeze mage the other day, but I don't have ice block.

Nice thing about raptor rogue is you don't need preparation for it, it works fine with Naxx and GvG commons and maybe a few stronger deathrattles. I just gave it a try because I got Anub'Arak in a pack and wanted to try him out, and while he adds very little to the deck it still works great.

 

[Spacewolf]

Ok so I decided to check this game out to see what the big deal was and honestly it's ridiculous how the game gives you no cards to start off with and how weak the cards it does give you are. The only way to get cards regularly with this game seems to be to get to a decent rank in play except it's completely unbalanced I reached rank 20 losing only twice because most of my opponents had similar cards but once I reached 20 it has become damn nearly impossible to win because suddenly everyone has cards that can kick my ass up and down the field usually doing more damage, having more effects and also being cheaper than my cards. Yet I can't do anything about it because the only other way to get cards seems to be to use 700 coins to unlock one chapter of an adventure (Get the whole adventure for just 39.99 or something) meanwhile I can get 10 coins for winning 3 matches or 100 coins per day for doing whatever quest it ask for. So how exactly am I supposed to get the cards that can actually make me competitive if I don't want to drop the cost of a full AAA release and how exactly is this not P2W?

 

[rcs619]

Ok so I decided to check this game out to see what the big deal was and honestly it's ridiculous how the game gives you no cards to start off with and how weak the cards it does give you are. The only way to get cards regularly with this game seems to be to get to a decent rank in play except it's completely unbalanced I reached rank 20 losing only twice because most of my opponents had similar cards but once I reached 20 it has become damn nearly impossible to win because suddenly everyone has cards that can kick my ass up and down the field usually doing more damage, having more effects and also being cheaper than my cards. Yet I can't do anything about it because the only other way to get cards seems to be to use 700 coins to unlock one chapter of an adventure (Get the whole adventure for just 39.99 or something) meanwhile I can get 10 coins for winning 3 matches or 100 coins per day for doing whatever quest it ask for. So how exactly am I supposed to get the cards that can actually make me competitive if I don't want to drop the cost of a full AAA release and how exactly is this not P2W?

To be fair, it's a collectable card game. Just like Yu-gi-oh or Magic, or anything. There's always an inherent amount of pay-2-win in these kinds of games. That's just sort of the nature of the beast. Think of it more like an MMO, only instead of a monthly subscription, you just buy an adventure or two every year, and maybe some new packs when an expansion comes out.

As a new player though, some suggestions.

1: Unlock all of the class cards. This gives you bonus gold.

2: Make sure to do the daily quests. These give you gold.

3: When you get a character to level 20 I think, you can participate in Tavern Brawls. This a new event every Wednesday that you outright get a free pack for getting a win in.

You can usually get about 4-5 packs a week just through quest gold and the tavern brawl. That's not even counting any extra gold you get per 3 wins.

4: Focus on buying classic packs for now. They have a lot of the core, solid cards that all decks utilize. Especially class cards.

5: I wouldn't buy an adventure until you have a decent collection starting. Without access to decent cards, the adventure bosses can be pretty tough. Your gold is better spent on classic packs.

6: *DO NOT* buy Goblins vs Gnomes packs, or the Naxxaramus adventure. In about a month, Blizzard is introducing a new expansion, along with a standard play format, and Goblins vs Gnomes and Naxxaramus will be rotated out of play. You can still use those cards in "Wild Mode" where anything goes, but Standard will have limits on its card pool.

This is actually very good for new players. Naxxaramus and GvG had a lot of power-creep, and once they're gone the overall power in the game will go down. Weaker cards will be more viable, and a lot of the really bad power-creep offenders will be gone.

7: For now, just focus on finding a character you like and building a functional deck with them. Hunter is the easiest, and even a basic face-hunter deck can climb into the single digits on ladder.

8: Try to have fun. Everyone struggles when they first get into a CCG. Other players have more cards, better cards, and they know what is good and what isn't. It's a learning process.

Hearthstone and CCG's in general aren't just games you jump into and are automatically good at. They're a building process. "Collectible" is the first word in the acronym. Once again, think of it more like building up a character on an MMO.

It is entirely possible to play Hearthstone free-to-play. Several pro-players have created alternate F2P accounts specifically to prove that. You just need to learn the game, learn how other popular decks work, and (as with every CCG) have a little good luck along the way.

Things are going to change drastically when Standard mode hits though.

EDIT: 9: Make use of the deck recipes in the deck creator. Most of them are surprisingly not-terrible and they can at least start pointing you in a direction. Help you figure out what is decent and what isn't.

 

[Spacewolf]

snip

Eh I didn't really like the Hunter, ATM I'm having the most luck with the Priest who I've got all the basic cards for. I'm trying to get some inspire cards since they fit my playstyle of controlling the flow with Taunt beasties and others that get gradually more powerful. With this strategy I managed to get a four winstreak earlier today so it seems altleast I'm not terrible, but then once again I got stomped by someone with cards that I'd never seen with all sorts of weird and wonderful affects.

 

[rcs619]

snip

Eh I didn't really like the Hunter, ATM I'm having the most luck with the Priest who I've got all the basic cards for. I'm trying to get some inspire cards since they fit my playstyle of controlling the flow with Taunt beasties and others that get gradually more powerful. With this strategy I managed to get a four winstreak earlier today so it seems altleast I'm not terrible, but then once again I got stomped by someone with cards that I'd never seen with all sorts of weird and wonderful affects.

Priest can be a lot of fun once you get a feel for him. The priest tends to lend itself to a slower playstyle, and more reactive moves, so priest decks can be a little complicated to run sometimes.

Some good cards to look out for:
- Northshire Cleric: Literally one of the best draw engines in the game. Love this lady.
- Wild Pyromancer: Wild Pyro is amazing against early aggro and between healing and buffs, the priest can use him in some scary ways.
- Power Word Shield: A generally useful early buff, PWS is amazing with wild pyro.
- Injured Blademaster: Priest is one of the few classes that can actually use this card effectively, and he can be *really* strong.
- Auchenai Soulpriest: An amazingly versatile card that turns your healing power/spells into direct damage.
- Circle of Healing: An amazingly versatile healing card. You can combo it with northshire cleric for massive draw, wild pyro for board damage, blademaster to heal him to full, and you can even use it with auchenai soulpriest to deal 4 damage to everything on board (including your own minions) for 0 mana.
- Shadow Word Death: Your main big-guy removal. I'm sure you've already got these in your deck.
- Holy Nova: Your primary non-Auchenai+Circle board clear. Solid card all around.
- Cabal Shadow Priest: The shadow priest is an epic, but she's totally worth it, and can really help you lock down a board full of small, annoying things.

- Flash Heal: This is from The Grand Tournament set, and it's a pretty nice little healing card. Can use it to beef up blademaster, or even use it along with the Auchenai for a 1-mana 5 damage burst.

If you do ever get an adventure, I recommend League of Explorers. It's an overall good expansion, but it also gives priest Museum Curator and Entomb, which are both amazing cards.

The other primary playstyle of priest is a dragon-priest. Unfortunately it's become a bit weak in the current meta and pretty much requires purchasing the blackrock mountain expansion to create. It's pretty fun though, and I do think it'll be looking to make a comeback in standard when power-levels go down.

Really, it just sort of depends what you like and, partially, which legendaries and epics you open up in your random packs first.

Anyway, if you have questions or anything, I can definitely try to help some. Are you playing on the NA or EU server?