The card reveal season for Hearthstone’s Forged in the Barrens expansion continues onwards and has revealed a powerful tech option.
The newest minion to be unveiled is Horde Operative, a rare Neutral minion that costs three mana and has a 3/4 statline plus a powerful Battlecry ability. When you play Horde Operative from your hand, she copies your opponent’s Secrets and puts them into play, so you can wield them yourself.
With the rotation of multiple cards occurring, direct answers to Secrets will be more difficult to come by as there is a singular four mana Neutral option that destroys one Secret. While Horde Operative cannot destroy her target, the fact that she can turn every single option against the opponent means your enemy will be put in a difficult predicament.
In addition to this, due to the mechanic of orders, Horde Operative’s Battlecry will copy every single Secret before they trigger. This means that you will be able to get your own Mirror Entity or Explosive Runes before activating.
Secret counter cards in the past usually removed Secrets from the opponent and had below average stats compared to other minions for its mana cost. If you’re running Horde Operative on ladder and run into a non-Secret class, she’ll at least have passable vanilla stats so she can contest the board if she’s played on turn three.
While Horde Operative can copy many secrets, one downside to consider with Horde Operative is that your opponent will know exactly which secrets to play around once her ability occurs. Additionally, even though you will know your opponent’s exact Secret Roster when she’s played, the Secrets remain on the board as a threat.
Forged in the Barrens will release at the end of the month on March 30. Players can pre-purchase the expansion in one of two different bundles from Blizzard’s online store or in the Hearthstone client.
