The card reveal season for Hearthstone’s Scholomance Academy expansion has entered its last few days before the final card reveal stream arrives later this week.
Blizzard introduced an entire new mechanic today in a Hearthside Chat video that defines the Warlock and Demon Hunter dual-class identity. Soul Fragments are cards shuffled into your deck by effects that heal your hero for two Health when drawn. There are three Demon Hunter exclusive Soul Fragment cards, with three dual-class Soul Fragment cards, and three Warlock exclusive Soul Fragment cards. Aside from healing your hero when drawn, some cards benefit from destroying Soul Fragments in your deck to activate their true power, meaning you’ll need many Soul Fragment shuffle abilities to consistently activate them.
The three Demon Hunter exclusive Soul Fragment cards are Marrowslicer, Shardshatter Mystic, and Soulshard Lapidary. Marrowslicer is a four-mana 4/2 common weapon with a Battlecry that shuffles two Soul Fragments into your deck. Shardshatter Mystic is a three-mana 3/2 rare minion with a Battlecry that destroys one Soul Fragment in your deck to deal three damage to all other minions. Soulshard Lapidary is a five-mana 5/5 common minion with a Battlecry that destroys one Soul Fragment in your deck to give your hero five Attack this turn.
Marrowslice is a powerful activator on a weapon stat line that’s proven to be strong in the past on cards like Death’s Bite and Truesilver Champion. This can easily slot into either aggressive, controlling, or mid-range lists due to its raw power and activated ability. Shardshatter Mystic serves as a control-based activator for Soul Fragments by providing a powerful AoE board clear that’s comparable to Duskbreaker and Crazed Netherwing. Soulshard Lapidary is a powerful minion that pushes a more aggressive nature of Soul Fragments by granting your hero five damage that can be used to either clear a big minion or hit the opponent’s face.
The three dual-class Soul Fragment-based cards are Spirit Jailer, Soul Shear, and Soulciologist Malicia. Spirit Jailer is a one-mana 1/3 common Demon with a Battlecry that shuffles two Soul Fragments into your deck. Soul Shear is a two-mana rare spell that deals three damage to a minion and shuffles two Soul Fragments into your deck. Soulciologist Malicia is a seven-mana 5/5 Legendary minion with a Battlecry that summons 3/3 Spirits with Rush equal to the number of Soul Fragments in your deck.
As a one-mana 1/3, Spirit Jailer will be powerful in either aggressive or controlling variants of Soul Fragment cards. Since Soul Shear is solely for minion clearing, this Soul Fragment enabler will be more useful in a control-based Soul Fragment list than an aggressive one. Similar to Blastmaster Boom from Rise of Shadows, Soulciologist Malicia is a powerful payoff for Soul Fragments that looks at the number of Soul Fragments in your deck to summon a bunch of Rush minions that will help you control any board when turn seven arrives. In addition to the potency of her ability, Malicia doesn’t destroy the Soul Fragments in your deck, allowing you to still obtain the healing from the Soul Fragments. This also won’t disrupt the other cards in your deck that need to destroy the Fragments to reach their true potential.
Scholomance Academy will be released on Aug. 6. Players can pre-purchase the expansion in one of two different bundles from Blizzard’s online store or in the Hearthstone client.
