Zakiir is part of a cycle of Hex dragons. The first set brought the Wild and Blood dragons Jadiim and Uranaaz, and Shattered Destiny looks to complete the cycle with the Diamond, Sapphire, and Ruby dragons. An early version of the Sapphire dragon Zeedu was previewed over a year ago around the time of the Kickstarter campaign, but little information of the other two had been spoiled until this past Friday's Update, where players got their first look at the red menace.
Like his cousins, Zakiir is a 5/5 flying troop for six resources. Fatties like that are generally enough to end a game on their own, but Zakiir's ability allows him to generate at random one of five power cards specific to him at the start of each of your turns (similar to the Hearthstone card Ysera). This means tricky ways of subduing the beast like Mesmerize or Inner Conflict still won't stop the power generation, which are incredibly powerful and cost efficient. So what are these powers should you open or have to face one down in a Sealed or Draft Tournament on release weekend?
Flame Breath
Flame Breath is the cheapest of the cards you can generate with Zakiir, but it's still a free Ruby Lance that has the added option of burning your opponent directly. This power pushes Zakiir players towards a mono-Ruby build to make the most use of this, and will likely be the largest source of raw damage among any of the cards.
Flame Servant
Flame Servant is a 4/1 troop for a single resource with both Speed and Swiftstrike. While this means he's likely going to win most skirmishes he gets into, if he does manage to kick the bucket, or otherwise leaves play, he deals 4 damage to a champion or troop. Since this means your opponent will likely take four damage anyways, it can be an equally effective source of damage.
Eye of Zakiir
The Eye is a more control style card that lets you draw three cards and deal 3 damage to a champion or troop. If you're running burn spells like Ragefire or Crackling Bolt, this card can search them out for you to end the game. In Counter-Burn decks, which may be an option with the addition of Fish Hands, or any other generic control deck, the card draw will allow you to protect Zakiir more.
Destructive Delirium
Destructive Delirium is kind of an outlier in that it nukes all artifacts, which can be particularly strong against Dwarves or Chimes-Combo (since late in the game is around the time you should be concerned about it), but it also permanently scorches four resources from your opponent, draining them from their available resources to boot. This will most likely cripple your opponent if it resolves, and when multiplayer games are implemented it will hobble every opponent.
Glimpse of Insanity
Is it just more or is Zakiir slowly growing more insane with every power he gains? I mean, that might have something to do with the flavor text. Zakiir looks to be a Wild Dragon initially, before he slowly succumbed to the maddening effects of Ruby gems. Glimpse of Insanity "purifies" the world, cleansing it of all non-dragon kind. While Jadiim might be able to hold his own one-on-one against Zakiir, more often than not this will be a complete board wipe, save for your dragon of course.
Zakiir is one of those cards that is just fun to own so you can slam him down and spin the wheel at the start of your turn. I also think this is a good example of randomness done right. Most of the Powers are icing on the cake... powerful and late-game relevant cards that you earn just from having recruited a dragon to your cause. I'm curious just how much Zakiir will open at when the set is released on (hopefully) December 9th, but his addition is one more reason to open any primal packs you manage to snag.
Flame Breath
Flame Breath is the cheapest of the cards you can generate with Zakiir, but it's still a free Ruby Lance that has the added option of burning your opponent directly. This power pushes Zakiir players towards a mono-Ruby build to make the most use of this, and will likely be the largest source of raw damage among any of the cards.
Flame Servant
Flame Servant is a 4/1 troop for a single resource with both Speed and Swiftstrike. While this means he's likely going to win most skirmishes he gets into, if he does manage to kick the bucket, or otherwise leaves play, he deals 4 damage to a champion or troop. Since this means your opponent will likely take four damage anyways, it can be an equally effective source of damage.
Eye of Zakiir
The Eye is a more control style card that lets you draw three cards and deal 3 damage to a champion or troop. If you're running burn spells like Ragefire or Crackling Bolt, this card can search them out for you to end the game. In Counter-Burn decks, which may be an option with the addition of Fish Hands, or any other generic control deck, the card draw will allow you to protect Zakiir more.
Destructive Delirium
Destructive Delirium is kind of an outlier in that it nukes all artifacts, which can be particularly strong against Dwarves or Chimes-Combo (since late in the game is around the time you should be concerned about it), but it also permanently scorches four resources from your opponent, draining them from their available resources to boot. This will most likely cripple your opponent if it resolves, and when multiplayer games are implemented it will hobble every opponent.
Glimpse of Insanity
Is it just more or is Zakiir slowly growing more insane with every power he gains? I mean, that might have something to do with the flavor text. Zakiir looks to be a Wild Dragon initially, before he slowly succumbed to the maddening effects of Ruby gems. Glimpse of Insanity "purifies" the world, cleansing it of all non-dragon kind. While Jadiim might be able to hold his own one-on-one against Zakiir, more often than not this will be a complete board wipe, save for your dragon of course.
Zakiir is one of those cards that is just fun to own so you can slam him down and spin the wheel at the start of your turn. I also think this is a good example of randomness done right. Most of the Powers are icing on the cake... powerful and late-game relevant cards that you earn just from having recruited a dragon to your cause. I'm curious just how much Zakiir will open at when the set is released on (hopefully) December 9th, but his addition is one more reason to open any primal packs you manage to snag.
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