The first Madness at the Darkmoon Faire Legendary for Hearthstone’s Warrior class, E.T.C., God of Metal, was revealed earlier today. And now, the second Warrior Legendary and a weapon have been shown off—and they could support a menagerie archetype.
Blizzard revealed Ringmaster Whatley and Ringmaster’s Baton today. Ringmaster Whatley is a five-mana Legendary Warrior minion with 3/5 combat stats and a value-based Battlecry. When you play Ringmaster Whatley from your hand, he draws a Dragon, Mech, and Pirate from your deck. Ringmaster’s Baton is a two-mana 1/3 weapon that buffs every Dragon, Mech, and Pirate in your hand with +1/+1 bonus stats.
While no current menagerie strategies exist in standard for Warrior, there are a couple of good options for Warrior players when trying to fit this build into a future archetype. Both Whitley and Baton can single-handedly give birth to a new archetype for Warriors. Whitley provides a powerful refuel option as a five-mana card that draws three cards while being a 3/5 himself. If you can high roll and hit three minions in your hand with Ringmaster’s Baton, that’s +3/+3 bonus stats over multiple swings—and that’s not including weapon upgrades.
For Pirates, Hoard Pillager is a potent card to tutor with Whatley and buff with his Baton. She can get stronger after you swing with your Baton and then she reequips another Baton after it’s destroyed, giving you more options. While Warrior only has two standard Dragons, any buff landed onto Scion of Ruin will count as +3/+3 due to its duplication effect if you fit a Galakrond package into your list. Mechs are the most difficult to figure out potential spots for based on the current pool, but Skybarge has a potential fit due to its inherent and close synergy to Pirates.
All of these theoretical pieces to the archetype also don’t include future Warrior cards coming with Madness at the Darkmoon Faire that haven’t been revealed yet. More Dragons, Mechs, and Pirates will likely join the card roster before the current pool from Rise of Shadows, Saviors of Uldum, and Descent of Dragons rotates out once the Year of Phoenix concludes.
Madness at the Darkmoon Faire will be released on Nov. 17. Players can pre-purchase the expansion in one of two different bundles from Blizzard’s online store or in the Hearthstone client.
