Tell Me A Story

Most of the actual story of Hex will be told through the PvE content, like the Ardent/Underworld conflict, the mysteries surrounding the Hex comet, and several other stories we've only been given glimpses of.  However several features of Hex that are in the game right now work to portray that story and also contribute to the unique atmosphere of the world of Entrath, including the art, flavor text, music, and even the card mechanics.

Transforming cards are one such example that is unique to Hex that works to tell a story, whether that story involves answering the summons of an Imprisoned Mage, an orc gladiator that becomes a High Cleric through victory in the arena, or an anonymous samurai that ascends to the rank of Warlord.  Unlike Evolution cards in Pokémon or updated versions of the same planeswalker in Magic: the Gathering, these cards are capable of telling a story on a single card, and they are stories that could span many years.  This holds interesting ramifications for PvP sets if they are released on a timeline, since an important figurehead in the current lore could be introduced along with his entire backstory laid out for the player if he is the final stage of a transforming card.  Alternately, we could get a glimpse at possible futures for characters whose destiny has not yet been realized: maybe when Te'Talca fights a Splinter of Azathoth she becomes "Te'Talca the Voidtouched" instead of the High Cleric we know and love (or dread if our Sealed opponent transforms her).

Brood Missionary is another transforming card that tells a story, but rather than a specific story about a Unique character, this is telling a story that reflects an ongoing conflict in Entrath.  The Vennen and Orcs are mortal foes, the former being a spidery bastardization of the latter.  The dynamics between the Orcs and Vennen are demonstrated in the Starter Trials, where players can take their newly acquired starter decks and compete against the AI to win new cards that augment their existing deck.  Here, a player with an Orc Starter Deck will face off against the Vennen champion Zared in his three matches.  Similarly, Human players will fight the three Necrotic champions, the Shin'hare will fight the three Coyotle champions, and the Dwarves will fight the elf champion Polonius.  These battles signify a much larger battle being waged on Entrath: the Underworld Incursion, where the Ardent and Underworld alliances are embroiled in a fierce battle that for the time being has reached a stalemate.

When PvE is implemented, you get to create a champion with one of these eight races and one of six classes: Cleric, Mage, Warrior, Rogue, Warlock, and Ranger.  While your class plays an important role in the Might System within dungeon, determining what sort of bonuses you get to your deck, your race plays a thematic role in determining where your character falls in the Ardent-Underworld conflict, and affecting a grand narrative that unfolds across various dungeons and raids.  I got the chance to talk with Cory Jones, President of Hex Entertainment, at GenCon about the races of Hex and how they play into the PvE content.  While most of the forty dungeons they have in production will be playable by all races, there are six dungeons that are specific to whether you have chosen an Ardent or Underworld character, three only playable by Ardent characters and three only playable by Underworld characters.  These dungeons will highlight the Ardent-Underworld conflict, and the AI for the computer can react differently based on the cards you play.  An opposing Vennen might spend an expensive removal spell on a Savage Raider instead of a more threatening card like Hellhound just because it's an Orc.

If you look carefully at his chest, you can see a tiny acorn inside.  

I plan on rolling a Coyotle when I get the chance, and curious to see whether I would be fighting on his side or against him and the rest of the Underworld forces, I asked Cory which race he planned on for his main character.  "This might be kind of a boring answer," he answered, "but I'll probably choose Human."  The Humans make up the Ardent Alliance alongside the Coyotle, Elves, and Orcs.  There had initially been plans for more playable races in the game on the Ardent and Underworld side other than the core eight that we have now.  One of these was the Arborean, a race of giant Treant-esque beings that lumber forth from the forests of Entrath in search of greater knowledge and ultimate Enlightenment.  Ostensibly allied with the surface dwelling Ardent races, the Arborean carve into their bark/skin the lessons and wisdom they collect from the world around them.  They are all born with a single seed, and upon reaching Enlightenment they bury that seed, which will then take root and eventually grow into another Arborean.  Shattered Destiny has given us our first look at the Arborean in Arborean Rootfather, a massive 8/8 troop that returns to the field if not dealt with immediately.

Another important note is that while these races might have generic names, they are far from ordinary.  The dwarves are chaotic and inventive masters of demolition, shaped from the very earth and occasionally seen riding into battle on the backs of giant army ants.  The elves look less like the fair-haired beings you might see in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings adaptation, and more like mischievous satyrs.  Their attitude reflects this, as the elves of Entrath are perennial artisans, much more aloof and tending to prefer poetry and cooking to swordplay.  One of the races that departs perhaps the most from what you would expect is the Goblins.  "When I envisioned them," Jones explained, "I had pictured these gaunt, grotesque, pale creatures... kind of like from the old Nosferatu movie.  Beings of pure, sadistic evil."  This is a far departure from the low-level (and low height) troublemakers you might find in a Pathfinder book.  All of these different stylistic takes on existing races make the world of Entrath and unique place to explore, along with several races that are completely unique to Hex like the samurai-esque Shin'hare, the native american themed Coyotle, and the seemingly Hindu-themed Iljuni.  As Shattered Destiny spoilers trickle out and PvE looms ever on the horizon, we're sure to see more of the lore surrounding these unique cultures unfold before us.

More information about the races of Entrath can be found on HexTCG's Story section.

Tournament

Two quick announcements in addition to the above.  First, this Saturday there will be another free Hex Constructed Tournament for those who wish to enter on Saturday, August 30th at 12PM Pacific (3PM for those of us on the East Coast).  There's no player cap, and if you manage to snag a win during the four rounds of Constructed you could get free boosters and gold.  Full information in the announcement.

Hotfix & Sleeve Giveaway

Congratulations to MagnumOpus from the reddit forums for winning the Draft/Pack Code (I sent you a friend request in game and will send you the code shortly).  That was my last one to give away, but I managed to get multiple copies of the promotional Pippit Sleeves from GenCon that I'm giving away on the blog.  These were made redeemable in the client through a hotfix earlier this week, so if you're interested just reply in the blog post or subreddit with your IGN (In Game Name) and your favorite race from Hex.  I'll give out as many as I can this week (I think I have like ten or so extra), but there are also many people who attended who are giving them out too.  I also got my webcam working after a few weeks of procrastinating and should start streaming some Drafts again soon.

Until next time... 

Dance Dance Evolution

Hey everyone.  I took a week off for GenCon, and in that time there's been a storm of new information surrounding Hex, including a new Content Patch, a Gamescom interview featuring PvE information, and Shattered Destiny Drafts and Starter Decks at GenCon.  I'll be starting off with another decklist this week and finish by giving away another Draft/Pack Code.

Dance Dance Evolution

For those of you that haven't played the randomness that is Hex Highlander (100 cards minimum, maximum of one copy of each card), I will let you know that a turn five Spirit Dance is a blessing.  Highlander is all about long, drawn out games, and both Spirit Dance and Dream Dance let you invest in the future, making all your troops that much better.  The current 60-card version of the Dance Deck was initially made by a friend in alpha.  His version featured a full compliment of Spirit Dances and Dream Dances alongside very cheap cards that shuffled troops back into his deck: The Ancestor's Chosen, Pack Raptor, Verdant Wyldeboar, and Replicator's Gambit.  It seemed a crime to me that Wild Root Dancer was not included, so I made some minor adjustments to make the deck a little more viable against the current meta.  It probably won't win you a tournament any time soon, but it's really fun to play the handful of times you can get it to work.

Champion: Running Deer
4 The Ancestor's Chosen
4 Pack Raptor
4 Moon'airu Sensei
4 Wild Root Dancer
4 Buccaneer
3 Eldritch Dreamer (Prime Sapphire of Mind)
2 Battle Beetle (Prime Wild Orb of Empowerment) 

3 Dream Dance
3 Spirit Dance
2 Yesterday
2 Incantation of Transcendance

4 Shards of Fate
10 Sapphire Shard
11 Wild Shard

If Hex had a DDR mini-game in one of their dungeons, it should definitely involve the three Dances: Dream Dance, Spirit Dance, and Wild Root Dancer (technically, Incantation of TranscenDANCE is an honorary fourth "dance").  My inner Bard wants Wild Root Dancer to have a Mega-Form that he transforms into if you manage to play him with both Dance effects on him, or maybe just an achievement of some sort if you manage to make him Dance enough times.

Back to the actual deck though: one of the big changes I made to my friend's deck is reducing the number of Dances to three of each.  The Dances don't immediately effect the game when you play them, so you don't really want to draw more than one copy early.  Luckily, after one Dream Dance you can discard the extra dances once you start chaining troops to the draw-discard effect.  Having multiples in your opening hand can be rough though since what you really want to be seeing is the Chosen and Raptors. 

Ancestral Specters & Moon'airu Senseis become even stronger at churning through your deck after a Dream Dance, though one of the problems this deck has is that the client doesn't allow you to choose the order of "enters play" effects.  As of now, a Moon'airu Sensei with Dream Dance will have you perform the Dance's effect before the troop's normal effect: you draw, discard, draw; as opposed to the preferable draw, draw, discard.  This is a minor grievance though, and one that you will surely forgive once you play the stronger Spirit Dance to transform those same utility dorks into resource-free 3/3 bunnies and 4/4 fliers that immediately replace themselves.  Your other "enters play" troops are Buccaneer (which is almost an instant 4-of for me with the limited card pool) and Battle Beetle, which can give your troops a +5/+5 bonus the turn it hits the field (+7/+7 with a Spirit Dance).  As an alternate path to victory, you can drop an Incantation and play Yesterday to return all of your Dream Dance/Card Draw troops to your hand, then transform the massive Incantation and ship over your opponent's field to finish him off.

One of the problems the deck has is mass troop removal.  Most of your early troops only have 1 or 2 defense, meaning a Sorrow or Heat Wave can chew enough card advantage out of you to negate any quality you might get from the Dances.  Part of the reason I didn't include Stargazer in the list is because it's often just another early guy that dies to these sweepers.  The threshold can also be difficult to manage, particularly when you want to play a Wild Root Dancer into an Eldritch Dreamer, the latter of which is an excellent target for permanent Attack & Defense buffs, but some of the new shards in Shattered Destiny should help that out.

One of the strengths of this deck is that it can play very aggressive if you get a fast Pack Raptor/Root Dancer draw--never underestimate the power of a bulky Swiftstriker--or it can play for the long game, where you grind out card advantage and quality through Dances while amassing a collection of cheap, efficient troops for you to dump back on the field after a well-timed Yesterday.  The combo of Yesterday + utility troops will also let you experiment with different builds and also expands your reserves options: Manti Elder Druid can revert Soul Marble and Living Totem, Glimmerglen Witch or Sensei of the Wounded Petal grant you early life gain against aggressive decks, and Shrine of Prosperity is a cool addition that might aid you against protracted matches.

Gamescom PvE Update

Cirouss was able to talk to Cory at length about PvE, including an extensive look at the Kraken's Gold dungeon.  The video features an overview of several of the fights in the dungeon, demonstrating the unique challenges the player's deck will face as they are forced to adapt to different enemy strategies.  Additionally, through the might system and card specific to PvE, your deck will be changed permanently as you progress through the dungeon.  The Sea Hag, one of the earlier bosses, can apply a debuff to your troops that remains on those troops during your next encounter, even if you defeat her, making future battles more difficult.  To counteract these detriments, you will also gain Might Powers as you progress, which provide special bonuses to your deck.  The Might Powers are based on your class, and vary from dungeon to dungeon, so a Warlock will not only have a different abilities at their disposal than the Warrior in the Kraken's Gold dungeon, but will also have a whole new set of powers in another dungeon.  The variety of challenges, combined with the variances in bonuses will make Dungeons a challenging puzzle for even seasoned CCG players to solve.  

Full bullet-points from the video compliments of Aswan_Jaguar in the subreddit, as well as the video in its entirety below:

Gen Con 2014 & Shattered Destiny Info

Gen Con was a blast this year.  In addition to getting to play with some Shattered Destiny Cards, I got to talk to Cory about the nature lore and races of Hex and how elements like art, music, flavor text, and card mechanics all work together to bring the world of Entrath to life.  I'll have a full article about my experience at Gen Con and the interview next week.  For those of you who are interested in the information on Shattered Destiny you can check out the Shards & Sockets and Tunneling articles on the main site.  I'll also do giveaways for some extra copies of the GenCon deck sleeves I was fortunate enough to snag in the coming weeks.

Vennen Music

Shapiro posted a theme from the Vennen to Soundcloud recently.  The music resonates of a cryptic underground cathedral, which immediately makes me think of Scarlet Monastery from my WoW days.  I'd like to see some of these themes over the cities of the Underworld factions since we've seen updated version of the Ardent cities.  Have a listen!

Patch v0.9.3.015

A small content patch launched this past week which featured the addition of the Tutorial, a feature that alongside the Starter Trials will help ease new players who are unfamiliar with TCGs into Hex.  There were also several bug fixes and quality of life changes in this patch as well.  You can read the full details of the Patch Notes on the main page.

As the summer wraps up we have a lot to look forward to right around the corner: the Shattered Destiny launch, the transition to Open Beta, trading (hopefully), an interface update, and hopefully not too far in the distance the first bits of playable PvE content trickling into client.  In the meantime you can sate you Hex hunger in the draft queue with a free Draft/Pack Code.  For your chance to win, just comment below (or in the subreddit) with the gem combo you would socket into Arborean Rootfather, one of the cards previewed this past weekend.  Remember to include your In-Game Name in you post so I can add you and send you the code if you win.

Until next time...

Firecat Blitz

Hey everyone!  This is likely going to be my last update before GenCon.  I'm looking forward to playing some Hex and earning some Jovial Pippits, along with snagging a few of those custom posters.  If you haven't seen them yet, make sure you check out last week's Friday Update on the main site or Cory's blog, because they look amazing.  There was a glut of information over the weekend from the Child's Play Stream, including promos and interviews.  There were also some new tracks from Michael Shapiro on Soundcloud.  AND I have a deck I've been tinkering around with to share this week.

Firecat Blitz

Most of the decks I have aren't really competitive... they're more fun.  I have a few decks (including the Skarn deck) that I'm trying to make competitive, but I've never really enjoyed super top tier Constructed play (I love me some limited though).  For those times when I don't have enough time to draft but I still wanna get my Hex on I've found myself tinkering around with this deck.

Champion: Poca

4x Bombsmith
4x Cerulean Mirror Knight
4x Buccaneer
2x Archmage Wrenlocke

4x Burn
4x Cerebral Fulmination
4x Ragefire
4x Peek
4x Replicator's Gambit
3x Oracle Song

11x Sapphire Shards
10x Ruby Shards
2x Shards of Fate

So the goal of this deck is to Replicator's Gambit your Blaze Elemental back into your deck to give you an instant 21 damage attack.  Ragefire is an alternate win condition, and if you draw extra Gambits you can shuffle in a Buccaneer or Bombsmith since their "enters play" abilities become much better.  Though this deck is a little kitschy I think Poca-Gambit is a solid little combo on its own since you don't lose any cards when you Gambit a Blaze Elemental (unless they kill the Elemental in response), and you have a very powerful, cheap play that you can topdeck.  This list is about as dedicated to getting the "Firecat Blitz" combo off as you can, and if you pull it off, it's a pretty enjoyable attack phase.

Without threshold fixing, the two Shards of Fate are kind of a necessary evil to ensure you can play the Fulmination and Ragefires while still getting at least a couple cards off of Peek.  This deck is strictly a combo deck: it doesn't have much in the way of generating card advantage like most control decks do, and it doesn't have a way to rush damage that most aggro decks do.  Most of what you can do with generating card advantage will be restricted to Mirror Knight and Wrenlcoke, and most players will focus on killing them on sight if they can.  There actually aren't a whole lot of troops for Mirror Knight to inspire, but if you don't have Gambit he turns Poca into a cheaper version of Wyatt since you Blaze Elementals will instantly net you a card.  The four-resource cost of Wrenlocke also makes 23 resource a bit questionable (I'm always nervous about being stuck at 3), but the rest of the deck is so inexpensive I'm usually fine.  

Wrenlcoke is also the most expensive card in the deck, though if you're having trouble affording them, he's not super necessary for the deck and could easily be replaced with something else.  He's also not a good Gambit target since he's unique, so changing him up to something like Royal Falconer may actually help some draws.

Beta Features

During the Child's Play Stream Event, Ben Stoll (head of PvP) and Cory Jones both sat down for interviews with InfamousNeo & Cirouss.  Vorsa & AswanJaguar in the official forums were kind enough to give the highlights of the interviews.  I will go over a few of the finer points that are coming down the pipeline in the coming weeks, but it's worth checking out the overviews and interviews for yourself.  You can find links to these overviews here: Jones Interview / Stoll Interview.

The next major content releases will be the tutorial, Set 2 PvP, and following that an update to PvE content.  Trading (a send-by-mail version), as well as an improved AI are currently in the works.  The Doubleback feature and Guilds have been pushed further back, likely until after Open Beta.  Regarding Set 2 (Shattered Destiny), it will feature the mechanics Lethal, Skyguard, and Tunneling, the latter of which is a mechanic that is rooted in Hex's digital design space and will have a cool visual effect and thematic tie in.  Shattered Destiny will also build upon the racial themes introduced in set 1, adding cards to Shin'hare, Human, Dwarf, and Orc strategies.  Some of these we've already seen, like Fury of the Mountain God and Cottontail Recruiter.  Shattered Destiny drafts will be mixed format: 2 Set-2, 1 Set-1 and award prizes of comparable distribution: so if you won 3 packs you'd win 2 Set-2, 1 Set-1.

New Champions and Gems will be introduced, possibly with Shattered Destiny, and if not they will be implemented during the next block of sets.  There will also likely be a champion/gem rotation for what is allowed/available in PvP at a particular time.  The "Wild West" PvE/PvP format may incorporate every Gem/Champion option though.  Set 1 (Shards of Fate) and Shattered Destiny will comprise the first block, with Set 3 & Set 4 comprising the second block.  This second block will focus on the other races it seems: Necrotic, Coyotle, Vennen, and Elves.

New Music

Some of you may remember Michael Shapiro from the Massively article back in April where he discussed composing some of the various sounds for Hex.  His Soundcloud was updated over the past month with some new tracks, including a haunting theme titled The Necrotic, which will likely be tied to their Underworld Location, or possibly a Necrotic themed Dungeon.  If you haven't had the chance to check out his page, give it a listen!

Set 2 Previews

The Child's Play Stream also featured 4 new preview cards from Shattered Destiny:

Cockatwice

Lethal was confirmed to equal "when this troop deals combat damage to another troop, it destroys that troop."  This adds a bit of complication to deciding what gems you socket on this guy, since normal evasion rules may not always be better.  Obviously giving it Flight makes sense in Sapphire-Blood, but so does slamming it on the field as a Quick Action to block and kill your opponent's gigantic attacker.  Swiftstrike is equally good, since dealing combat damage first--and in turn, killing them--will keep him immune to whoever he's brawling with, so long as they too don't have swiftstrike.  While the sockets and Lethal are this card's strength, the resource cost and toughness are definitely its weakness.  Five resources for two-toughness is a very dicey proposition, since a Heat Wave or Burn will easily incinerate him.  Despite this, he still appears to be a strong pick in draft, though this could change depending on how plentiful removal is in Set 2.

Born of the Flame 

Let me put on my Highlander hat for a minute, since this card seems designed for the potentially powerful and incredibly wonky big-stack formats.  You could get a Zoltog, Te'Talca, and an Ash Harpy... or you could whiff into a couple of Unmerciful Tormentors and a Royal Falcon (the bird, not the trainer).  This is assuming "token" troops count towards the pool of potential cards this could generate, though if this is the case, you could generate The Triumvirate too.  It probably won't see play in constructed, but it could be a slam in limited: most Ruby guys are pretty aggressive, and even if you get a couple of low-cost guys in the mix, you have a pretty good chance of at least breaking even with your resource investment.

Robotic Rapture

Returning a massive amount of cards from your yard is pretty powerful, and if you are generating a lot of Worker Bots or sacrificing Sapper's Charges and Bottled Vitaes you  will probably have some cheap cards to replenish your field after playing this.  Right now artifacts are relatively tame, but this is a card that will likely be much more powerful as time goes on and more low-cost artifacts are printed.  Charge, Vitae, and Goblin Cooking Pot are probably your best bets as far as abusing abilities.  Pterobots aren't a bad choice either since their cost scales down with the artifacts you have in play, so if you get to 7 on the board that same turn you can generate a small army of 3/4 fliers.  I'm less interested in playing a PvP deck with this than I am in trying this with Bebo in a PvE deck, since his Robot Parts can be generated fairly easily with the extra charges from Vitae and maybe Induction Coil.

Stonetusk

Cost-efficient dudes with drawbacks tend to be hit or miss, and even with Steadfast this guy is asking for a Gozzog activation or... well... anything with evasion.  One thing that does get me excited is this guy is an Iljuni, the anthropomorphic elephant people heretofore (to my knowledge) referenced only in the flavor text of Shrine of Prosperity.  The ornately fashioned Iljuni seem really cool from a design standpoint--it has an Indian/Hindu feel--so I'm happy to see them more prominently featured on a card.  Another interesting point about this card is that it has the Ardent emblem on the left-hand side, traditionally reserved only troops from the Ardent races: Humans, Orcs, Elves, and Coyotle.  This could easily be an oversight, but it might also highlight that some of the "neutral" races are more closely allied with the Ardent or Underworld thematically.  We already know the Shroomkin are closely tied to the Shin'hare (though much to their chagrin), so perhaps we will see some elephant shamans and clerics teaming up with Elves and Orcs in PvE dungeons. 

Pack/Draft Code Contest

Congratulations to Arkios for winning last week's Pack/Draft Code.  I'll add you in game and send you the code.  I'll have another pack & draft code next available after GenCon.  I'll also try to include some pictures meeting the Hex team and hopefully some of the podcasters from Threshold and 2 Turns Ahead (which if you haven't listened to, you should).

Until next time...

Mental Walls

Today I want to talk briefly about cards I value higher than I probably should in draft.  This is something I think affects every drafter: you either have a good early experience with a card, or it just fits into your style of play, or it just appeals to you in some indescribable way.  Either way, you find yourself incapable of passing that card.  You know that on every ranking list, in every cloistered scenario, it's not as powerful as that Crazed Squirrel Titan you're shipping down the line.  I imagine Reginald Lancashire is like this for people, and there are definitely cards like this for me in Set 1, but the most egregious violator is Cerulean Mentalist.  

Now I don't think I'm entirely unjustified in this since Mentalist is a solid card.  I mean, all of your expensive stuff draws you a card when you connect with it, and there are also some solid evasion guys that get Inspired by Mentalist like Wailing Banshee and Infiltrator Bot.  But in my opinion, none of these cards is more back-breaking to give the "damage = cards" effect to than Turreted Wall.

A turn-three Mentalist into a turn-four Turreted Wall is so groan-inducing for your opponent.  The 0/5 Artifact is annoying enough as is: it blocks just about everything early game and is immune to most forms of removal.  Even things like Inner Conflict that stop it's ability to block still don't neuter its ability to ping you for one every turn... and that start of turn damage will trigger your Mentalist.  Yes, for those of you unfamiliar with Mentalist, it doesn't specify combat damage.  So every turn you put your opponent one-tick closer to death you also have your very own  personal Cerebral Fulmination churning out cards.  Often times the sheer card advantage you generate off of this will be enough to put the game away, and if it doesn't the Wall still allows you to race in the air (I mean, you are dealing a point of damage every turn).

Cory also recently blogged a few more spoilers from the next set: two Shin'hare that will definitely add some power to the fledgling bunny brigade.  In trying to maintain my analysis of Shattered Destiny Cards in real time, here they are:

Cottontail Recruiter

Associated Cards: Shin'hare Militia

Recruiter is a small one-drop that turns replaces any Battle Hopper you would create into a Shin'hare Militia.  This essentially gives your Hoppers +1/+1, but since many cards put them into play on the cheap like Concubunny or Wretched Brood it's good way to capitalize on these recurring effects to create an army that does something other than chump-blocking.  I'll admit to not being the biggest Shin'hare fan, but this card seems pretty strong for a dedicated Shin'hare swarm strategy with cards like Ritualist of the Spring Litter to pump out more and more Militia to your cause.  Of course board sweepers like Heat Wave and Extinction are the bane of all swarm strategies, so until the Shin'hare get some post-apocalypse survival skills, it's unlikely they'll be topping the constructed charts anytime soon, though this is definitely a step in the right direction.  In limited this card's power will vary greatly based on what Battle Hopper creating effects are in the pool since he really wants to be drafted around: if you get him pack one and then get some Concubunnies in the next couple packs, then he's probably worth it.  Perhaps just a cautionary "Don't play him outside of Shin'hare" will suffice.

Necrophage Sensei

The "enters play" clause works a bit differently in Hex than in paper TCGs since cards retain attack and defense changes when changing zones.  If the Sensei gets killed and then brought back to life, the "+1/+1 for every troop in your graveyard" effect will happen again.  He might be a modestly sized 3/3 the first time he graces the playing field, but post-Extinction you might be able to dig him back up with a Cruelty Gemmed Xentoth's Inquisitor or a Call the Grave.  When you do, he comes back to your hand as a 3/3 (or whatever he was before), only to grow in size when you play him.  He is also annoying resilient to bounce effects, as anyone who has been in the unfortunate situation of having to Buccaneer a Honeycap or Briar Legion can attest to.  He's definitely strong in limited, though without evasion I wouldn't be surprised to see him go mid-pack.  I could also see him seeing play in Constructed, possibly as an alternate win-condition in a weird Chronic Madness deck.

Also, I'll be at Gencon this year, clawing through crowds to try to snag one of those sweet posters (and sleeves) from the Hex booth.  I missed out on getting into a Shattered Destiny draft, but hopefully they'll have some other fun stuff there for me to try out.

Finally, congratulations to Airwrecka for winning the Pack/Draft Code.  I'll friend you in game so I can message you the code.  I still have more Pack/Draft Codes to give away, so for this week to enter just reply with a card you draft earlier than you probably should and why it beckons you so much.

Until next time...

Edit: Some clarification on Necrophage Sensei