Hearthstone: The Best Meta-Defining Cards That Are Leaving Standard in 2019

The final expansion of Hearthstone in 2018, Rastakhan's Rumble has been out for a while now. Around April of every year, Hearthstone rotates expansion sets that are 2 years old out into the wild format, to keep the Standard Format fresh. The Wild format has every single card expansion since Hearthstone's release in 2014. The Standard format, however, only contains the Classic cards and cards from the past year as well as any new expansions.

The beginning of 2018 saw the Year of the Raven, after 2017's Year of the Mammoth. We don't know what 2019's Standard format year will be called, but we do know the expansion sets that will be rotated out. Journey to Un'goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne and Kobolds & Catacombs, all released through 2017, will not be available from sometime around April 2019 (though Blizzard is yet to confirm).

The new Standard Year will contain the expansions from 2018: The Witchwood, The Boomsday Project, Rastakhan's Rumble and the new expansion of 2019, together with the classic sets. Blizzard also rotates some classic cards that are too powerful and see too much play into the "Hall of Fame". These cards can never be opened from the Classic Packs again and cannot be played in Standard, but they are accessible in Wild.

The Classic cards that went into the Hall of Fame in 2018

So let us take a look at some of the most powerful cards from the 2017 expansion set that are leaving Standard in 2019.

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#7. Spikeridge Steed

Expansion: Journey to Un'Goro

Spikeridged Steed was a ridiculously strong card that especially saw Paladins benefit in the Arena game mode. While it was not too powerful in the Constructed mode (because people like to run Silence minions), it was the ultimate defence mechanism for Paladins in Arena. You had to deal with a huge minion with +2 attack and +6 health and THEN deal with another 2/6 taunt. It hurts to deal with so much in the Arena game mode.

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#6. Sunkeeper Tarim

Expansion: Journey to Un'goro

Sunkeeper Tarim is just an all-round flexible card. It saw a lot of play in Even Paladin, but it also can be discovered by Stonehill Defender. Buffing your 1/1 dudes into 3/3 dudes or buffing your small aggressive minions into 3/3 aggressive minions posed a serious threat. At 6 mana, the card is great at mid-range and his Taunt helps the player to defend his newly buffed 3/3 minions. Or you could use to remove your enemy's big board.

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#5. Tar Creeper

Expansion: Journey to Un'goro

Tar Creeper is a cheap minion that mimics the best taunt from the classic set: Sen'jin Shieldmasta. A purely defensive card, this card poses a threat to your opponent's smaller minions they have played in turns 1-3. It is not overpowered due to its 1 health on your turn, but it saw a place in almost every deck (especially when the best decks were aggressive ones).

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#4. Fungalmancer

Expansion: Kobolds & Catacombs

Mushroom Power! Fungalmancer is one of those cards that cost the perfect amount of mana, evenly statted and had the power to buff the hell out of your minions. It has a very high power level, being highly rated in both Constructed and Arena. It was perhaps the best fit in Odd Paladin, where you could aggressively spam small minions, buff them multiple times and then buff them again with Fungalmancer.

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#3. The Lich King

Expansion: Knights of the Frozen Throne

The Lich King is a card that was perfectly balanced but still powerful enough to be an auto-include in many decks. The Death Knight cards you got from him were really powerful, some with a big downside. He is a fairly statted minion and the titular character of the expansion did not disappoint. You could really turn the game around if you got a good Death Knight card, even though it is too dependent on RNG.

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#2. Carnivorous Cube

Expansion: Kobolds & Catacombs

I think most players remember the deck that was Cubelock. You pull out a Doomguard or Voidlord, use Cube on it and Dark Pact your Cube, giving you double Demons. Carnivorous Cube also saw play in many other decks such as Deathrattle Hunter and Hadronox Druid. The trick was to make the Cube die as soon as possible. Even in Arena, a 4/6 statted minion that gives you 2 copies of your minion was still very powerful.

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#1. Death Knight Heroes

Expansion: Knights of the Frozen Throne

The Death Knight Heroes were by far, the most powerful cards that were released in 2017. These are the first of these type of cards, with only Jaraxxus being similar to them earlier. Not everyone is powerful but all of them have seen play. They were so broken in Arena they had to be removed.

Here's how meta-defining each one was:

Frost Lich Jaina - Extremely powerful hero power that can get you a 3/6 Water Elemental. Very easy to regain life and stay defensive.

Deathstalker Rexxar - Has a great board clear. Build a Zombeast is by far the most unique and interesting Hero Power in the game, where you could make a beast out of two beasts that cost 5 mana or less.

Thrall Deathseer - Cheap to play. Easy to evolve smaller, low-cost minions.

Malfurion, The Pestilent - Has a very flexible Battlecry and Hero Power. An auto-include in every Druid deck.

Bloodreaver Gul'dan - The best one so far. So play in many Warlock decks and solves the fatigue problem for Warlocks with the powerful hero power.

Uther of the Ebon Blade - Introduced Exodia Paladin. Tricky to play but you win if you can use your hero power 4 times and make the 2/2 minions survive.

Shadowreaper Anduin - Used to have a 0 cost hero power with Raza. He was easily able to gun down opponents to 0 health

Valeera the Hollow - The only way a hero can get Stealth. Extremely efficient to combo multiple cards with her passive hero power.

Scourgelord Garrosh - The weakest of all of them. He had no powerful decks but the weapon he gets was a really good board clear when he was in Arena.

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