Summary
The finalHearthstoneexpansion of 2024 was The Great Dark Beyond, whichintroduced the Dranei as an official minion typeas the set explored the race’s journey through space after their exile from Argus. While most of the Dranei cards were underwhelming, plenty of powerful cards were introduced that will continue to play in decks asHearthstonemoves into the Year of the Raptor in 2025.
Hearthstonehad a very successful andpopular mini-set that featured a crossover withStarcraft, bringing in new cards featuring iconic characters from the classic Blizzard RTS game. TheStarcraftmini-set was a good thematic match with The Great Dark Beyond’s space exploration, but the cards themselves were much more powerful and had more synergy with each other than the original cards. As a result, theStarcraftcards took over the meta at the start of 2025, but that shouldn’t detract from the best cards that came with The Great Dark Beyond’s main set.
10Triangulate
A New All-Star Spell For Shaman
This two-mana Shaman spell saw a lot of play right away in The Great Dark Beyond and will continue to do so while it stays in Standard. For two mana, Triangulate discovers a different spell from the deck, so no discovering extra Triangulates, and puts it into the hand. Two-mana discover one isn’t great, but Triangulate will also shuffle three new copies of the discovered spell into the deck as well, which makes this spell powerful.
For the start of The Great Dark Beyond’s meta, Asteroid Shaman was one of the strongest archetypes, using a combination of the asteroids and Incindius’s eruptions to consistently chip away at the opponent’s health and clear their boards. Triangulate is an easy way to get more of those cards into the deck and is also a way to find other spells that are more matchup-dependent.
9Moonstone Mauler
A Key Piece Of Asteroid Strategies
For those Asteroid-focused decks, the Moonstone Mauler is a simple but crucial piece to get it working. A two-mana 2/2 is a below-rate stat line, but the Moonstone Mauler’s Battlecry effect will shuffle three Asteroids into the deck, which deal two damage to a random enemy when it is drawn.
Two damage may not sound like a lot, and the randomness of the effect is a small downside. However, shuffle enough of these in with Triangulate or use Shudderblock to triple this card’s Battlecry, and suddenly the deck has dozens of Asteroids that will eventually start hitting the opponent in the face.
8Kil’Jaeden
An Iconic Warcraft Villain Is A Late-Game Terror
Hearthstoneis at its best when itscards feature legendary characters, locations, and events inWarcraft’shistory. Kil’jaeden is one of the most iconic villains inWarcraftand deserves a powerful game-altering card to reflect his power. Once a leader of the Eredar people of Argus, he was corrupted by Sargeras and turned into a Demon to lead the Burning Legion. Now he’s here to giveHearthstoneplayers a taste of that power in their decks.
Kil’jaeden’s Battlecry will ensure whoever plays it won’t die to fatigue, as their deck will refresh with a fresh stack of random demons each turn that gets more powerful every time. Kil’jaeden is a perfect finisher for control decks that want to go the distance, but don’t have a big game-ending card in their original deck.
7Hostile Invader
Another Excellent Board Control Minion
The Warrior class struggled to find a footing through much of The Great Dark Beyond but became a real presence at the end with a classic Control Warrior style of deck. TheStarcraftmini-set made the Starship mechanic a lot stronger which helped that, but the Hostile Invader is another crucial piece that does a lot of work for a common rarity card.
Against aggressive decks, this card can win games by itself. Dealing two damage can easily clear a lot of early aggressive boards, and the Spellburst often makes it deal four the same turn it enters. The 3/5 body is nice too, as it can trade into larger things and not die straight away, so when the opponent rebuilds their board it will be around to deal another two damage to everything and reduce the threat.
6Orbital Halo
A Satisfying Protection And Tempo Spell
Priest became a very aggressive-focused class during The Great Dark Beyond, largely due to the spell Orbital Halo. Orbital Halo was one of a cycle of cards that would cost zero mana if an adjacent card was played, but its already-low mana cost makes it the best of the bunch.
Getting an Orbital Halo in an opening hand with a one-mana minion like Snakeoil Salesman or Overzealous Healer means a priest player can have a 4/3 or 5/4 minion with Divine Shield on the board on turn one, something very few classes can deal with. The Orbital Halo took a small nerf at the end of The Great Dark Beyond’s meta, but shouldstill see play in any aggressive or tempo-focused Priest decks in the Year of the Raptor.
5Exarch Naielle
Changes An Entire Class Identity
Card Tracking is one of the best Hunter cards in all ofHearthstone’s history, and it turns out it’s even better if players can consistently do it once every turn. Naielle fundamentally changes what the Hunter class wants to do, removing the guaranteed 2 damage to the opponent for a slower but more intricate effect.
Discover Hunter was quietly one of the best decks in The Great Dark Beyond meta, largely because of the Alien Encounters spell that summoned two 2/5 taunt minions for 5 mana, which got cheaper each time the player discovered a card. Naielle made that an easy thing to achieve, and with ways to get copies of discovered cards, Hunter had “discovered” a whole new identity.
4The Exodar
A Crucial Card For Starship Decks
Starship-focused strategies struggled during the first half of The Great Dark Beyond for a few reasons. The main reason was that single-target removal is so strong and accessible currently inHearthstone, and for a lot of classes, the starship pieces weren’t strong enough to be worth running in a deck. TheStarcraftexpansion made Starships much more powerful, especially for the Terran classes, butany Starship-focused decks moving forward will want to run The Exodarfor an explosive turn.
Launching a Starship usually costs five mana, so the Exodar effectively gives players an extra 6/8 minion and another bonus effect for two mana thanks to its buff. The protocols let fans either gain armor equal to the launched Starship’s health twice, deal the Starship’s damage randomly split between enemies, or get all the Starship’s pieces back in hand, and they all cost one. Starship strategies will likely remain strongwhen The Emerald Dream expansion gets underway, so expect to see a lot of extra launches then.
3Arkonite Defence Crystal
One Of The Most Popular Neutral Cards From The Set
The one Starship Card more prevalent than the Exodar was the Arkonite Defense Crystal. On the surface, a 4 mana 3-4 that gives 6 armor isn’t too exciting, but as it’s a Starship piece that helps the player to live longer, it was always going to see play in those Starship decks that want games to go long enough so they can launch a big ship.
Add in ways to give Deathrattle minions reborn, relaunch starships, or resummon Starships that have taunt, and all of a sudden, players are easily gaining 60 or more armor a game and dealing big chunks of damage when their opponents run out of removal. The Defence Crystal deservedly received a small nerf, losing two armor, but it will still see a lot of play in 2025.
2Ethereal Oracle
Oftensome of the most broken cards in TCGsare the simple commons and uncommons that slot into every deck, and Ethereal Oracle certainly fits that description. Originally a 3 mana 2/3, the Oracle could draw two spells from its Spellburst ability. This was especially powerful in decks with very few spells because it could act either as a tutor or draw asteroids that were shuffled into the deck earlier. The extra spell damage then made these asteroids even stronger, and would often draw them to start a chain of damage.
The synergy with asteroids was powerful, but a cheap spell damage enabler and something that drew cards on a minion was simply too powerful. Every deck played this card at the start, and it needed to be nerfed. Now at 4 mana, it’s too high-cost to be playable in most decks, which is a shame because it has some incredible signature artwork.
1The Ceasless Expanse
One Of Hearthstone’s Most Expensive Cards
When it was first revealed, many thought The Ceasless Expanse was more of a joke card than anything else. A 100-mana minion with 15 health and attack is fun to see, even in modernHearthstone, but whether it can be reliably played is another matter. It turns out that in aHearthstonematch, lots of cards are drawn, played, or destroyed, so The Ceasless Expanse does get to zero mana quite often.
A zero mana 15/15 that destroys all other minions is absurd, but the time it takes to get to zero mana does balance that quite well. Still, with the powerful effects of starships and charge minions, The Ceasless Expanse needs a bit of reduced power, so it’s easier to deal with after it’s been played. Now as a 10/10, this is still the best board wipe card that everyHearthstoneclass can use for the next year.
