Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Community guidelines
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
Subscribe now
Popular
  • Essential Hardware
  • Battlefield 6
  • Helldivers 2
  • PC Gamer quizzes!
  • AI
Don't miss these
A peeping monarch
Roguelike Every game is a roguelike deckbuilder now, but I've finally found a few that have stopped me being a hater
King Krush Hearthstone pet
Card Game Hearthstone's first in-game pet is only available via a gacha mechanic that will cost most players a whopping 158 bucks
Marvel Rivals Ultron release date abilities: A close up shot of Ultron with a menacing expression as hordes of robots appear behind him.
Third Person Shooter Marvel Rivals' updated hero hot list reveals the most-played and highest win-rate characters, and it's good news for Support players
Deadlock's six new heroes: Mina, Billy, Paige, The Doorman, Victor, and Drifter.
MOBA Deadlock is drip-feeding 6 new heroes over the next couple of weeks, and is letting players decide which ones drop first
An AverMedia external capture card on a chair.
Capture Cards We've just crowned a new best capture card, dethroning Elgato in favour of AverMedia—now let me tell you why
Marvel Rivals Wolverine and Phoenix team-up in Season 3: Wolverine gritting his teeth as he gets ready to leap. His claws glow orange and are covered in a red haze.
Third Person Shooter Phoenix's terrifying team-up in Marvel Rivals Season 3 has me starting a campaign to get Wolverine banned in all my matches
Three Path of Exile Secrets of the Atlas mercenaries stand together
RPG 'I can't even hit anything': Path of Exile player watches helplessly as his mercenary wipes out screens of enemies before he can even reach them
World of Warcraft World of Warcraft players are convinced Blizzard is dropping hints about a major update to a 9-year-old class
A joker card with other cards in the background
Games Balatro creator gets 'a taste of my own medicine' as he struggles in vain to score the game's hardest achievement
Hammond/Wrecking Ball shocked face
Third Person Shooter 'What's the most chaotic evil thing we can make?': Overwatch 2 devs are seeing just how far they can push Stadium's fights, but will reign it in for the sake of player sanity
AMD RX 9070 XT and Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards from Asus
Graphics Cards Picking the best GPU of 2025 has been the biggest challenge of my near 20-year PC gaming tech testing career. Now my brain hurts
Junkrat screaming
FPS Overwatch 2 Season 17 is 'all about giving you more customisation' as 3 new heroes are added to Stadium with some pretty busted abilities
RPG Fans claim Blizzard's new Diablo Immortal x Hearthstone art was made with generative AI
Diablo 4 screenshot
RPG Diablo 4's next season acknowledges its greatest weakness as an action RPG and offers a solution on how to fix it
Borderlands 4 meta builds predictions: All four Vault Hunters charging into battle. From left to right: Rafa leaping with corrosive blades, Harlowe running, Amon lunging with his axe, and Vex firing a rifle.
FPS I used my 967 hours in Borderlands to predict Borderlands 4's most busted builds
  1. Games
  2. Card Game
  3. Hearthstone

Reynad picks the 10 most OP new Hearthstone cards

Features
By PCGamer published 8 December 2014

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Goblins vs Gnomes launches today, and I couldn’t be more excited. My name is Andrey Yanyuk, more commonly known as Reynad, and I’m a professional Hearthstone player. With my videos and decks such as Zoo and Mad Scientist Hunter on tempostorm.com, I’ve been helping shape the metagame since the Ranked system came to be, and hopefully I can do it again with the advent of 120 new cards! In this article I’m here to help you figure out which of the new GvsG cards to craft first, so let’s get right to my picks for the top 10 most OP cards in the new expansion!

Page 1 of 12
Page 1 of 12
10: Shieldmaiden

10: Shieldmaiden

While not as flashy as many other cards in this set, Shieldmaiden comes in #10 on the list because of its sheer necessity. Shieldmaiden is one of, if not THE best late game minions in the game for defensive decks, and fills a role that Warrior decks have been lacking up until now—strong late game class minions. She has excellent stats for the cost when compared to Guardian of Kings, and also guarantees full value when played at 30 life. This is one of the few 6 mana minions in the game that you can comfortably play when behind on the board, isn’t vulnerable to Black Knight or silence, and of course enables those otherwise weak shield slams you’re sometimes stuck with. Most people are more excited for Iron Juggernaut, but Shieldmaiden will be the GvG card that wins warriors the most games.

Page 2 of 12
Page 2 of 12
9: Mal’Ganis

9: Mal’Ganis

THE best thing to have in play in the game. In the entirety of Hearthstone, there is no minion, trap, or weapon that you’d rather have on your side of the table than Mal’Ganis. His immunity effect is so powerful and unique, he demands a new warlock archetype on his own. A new breed of Voidcaller-centric warlock decks is coming, and Mal’Ganis will be leading the charge.

Page 3 of 12
Page 3 of 12
8: Tinkertown Technician

8: Tinkertown Technician

Mech Matters! Tinkertown Technician is one of the best payoffs for playing a Mech-centric deck in GvG. All future decks will need to be able to compete with the all-neutral play of turn 2 coin + Spider Tank followed by turn 3 Tinkertown Technician. This is a nasty amount of stats for the cost, and I for one welcome our new Gnomish overlord.

Page 4 of 12
Page 4 of 12
7: Dark Bomb

7: Dark Bomb

Some cards aren’t fancy in what they do, but they do it well. 3 damage for 2 mana is too efficient and flexible not to play, and this unassuming card will be a staple 2x in every single warlock deck from here on out.

Page 5 of 12
Page 5 of 12
6: Crackle

6: Crackle

In the same category of “too good not to play 2 of” as Dark Bomb, Crackle is the best Shaman card in the set. From a card design standpoint however, this will lead to some frustrating losses regardless of whether you’re the one playing it or it’s being aimed at your face. I look forward to uploading a video of me taking 14 damage from two of these and the spell power totem they just rolled.

Page 6 of 12
Page 6 of 12
5: Bomb Lobber

5: Bomb Lobber

The first time I read Bomb Lobber, I assumed it hit a random enemy character and considered it unplayable. After noticing it hits a minion 100% of the time however, I see Bomb Lobber as one of the best neutral cards in the entire set. Look at it as a Stampeding Kodo without limitations. A clean, immediate, two-for-one. Good when you’re ahead, good when you’re behind—just good. I imagine we’ll be seeing much more Bomb Lobber in the new metagame than most people expected when they first saw this “decent arena card”.

Page 7 of 12
Page 7 of 12
4: Vol’jin

4: Vol’jin

The best class Legendary in Goblins vs Gnomes, Vol’jin brings us a powerful effect at a great cost. Most of the time Vol’jin will function as a 5 mana Fire Elemental, helping clear those pesky Loathebs and Sludge Belchers. Other times he’ll team up with a Holy Smite or Shadowboxer to take down the otherwise unbeatable Mountain Giant on your opponent’s side of the table. Either way, expect to see this guy in every single Priest deck to come.

Page 8 of 12
Page 8 of 12
3: Muster for Battle

3: Muster for Battle

Well Met! Muster for Battle is both the hero that Paladin deserved, and the one it needs right now. On its own, the sheer amount of guaranteed value that this card gives you on turn 3 would get Muster onto this list. When we take into account this cards’ synergy with the various Blessings and buffs that will be the core of many new Paladin decks, Muster for Battle climbs right up to the #3 most overpowered card in Goblins vs Gnomes.

Page 9 of 12
Page 9 of 12
2: Fel Reaver

2: Fel Reaver

As is the case with most cards that are completely broken, at least half of the opinions I read about Fel Reaver were that it was completely unplayable. Just so we understand each other—Fel Reaver is an 8/8 for 5. Removing the top 9 cards of your deck won’t affect the quality of your draws on average, and is only a drawback if you literally lose because of fatigue. Given that the drawback on Fel Reaver basically doesn’t exist in 99% of games, I’d say that this 5 mana 8/8 is a pretty efficient creature. This is the best card in the set for aggressive decks, and the first time somebody curves Fel Reaver into Savannah Highmane against you I think you’ll agree.

Page 10 of 12
Page 10 of 12
1: Unstable Portal

1: Unstable Portal

For the love of all that is holy Blizzard, rework this card.

Let’s assume for a moment that a card existed in Hearthstone that read “2 mana: 90% chance win the game, 10% chance do nothing”. I think we’d unanimously agree that such a card would be overpowered. Now imagine a card that said “1% chance win the game, 99% chance do nothing”. We can agree that such a card would suck. That means that somewhere between 1% and 90% we have a balanced card. I think that number is somewhere around 15%. Unstable portal has about an 85% chance to hit a minion that costs 2 or more. 70% for 3 or more. In the event that you play unstable portal on turn two and get a minion costing 6+ (about a 20% chance), you will probably win the game on the spot. All you invested was one card and your second turn to have a boulderfist ogre in play on turn 3.

Will you get Grimscale oracle sometimes? Sure, but even in that scenario all you did was play a 2 mana 1/1. The vast majority of the time you’ll be breaking even or netting a huge tempo swing akin to Innervate or Wild Growth. Is it worse off the top of the deck later in the game? Sure, but still much better than Wild Growth would have been and still capable of rolling a 6 mana Onyxia. Unstable Portal will warp half of the games it’s played in around itself, and the extremely high chance for a free win makes it an auto-include in any mage deck. Hold on to your extra Portals so you can disenchant them for full dust once the nerf bat strikes. However, of all the cards on this list, Unstable Portal is the one I’m least sure about. The variance involved may very well make it unplayable. Only one way to find out, get out there and play!

Page 11 of 12
Page 11 of 12
Visit Tempo Storm

Visit Tempo Storm

To get an idea of cool and effective decks to try with GvG, check out our daily video guides on tempostorm.com! The best pros in the game contribute to help you on your ranked climb, or just having fun with new decks. You can also find us on Youtube, Twitch and Twitter.

Page 12 of 12
Page 12 of 12
PCGamer
PCGamer

PC Gamer is the global authority on PC games—starting in 1993 with the magazine, and then in 2010 with this website you're currently reading. We have writers across the US, Canada, UK and Australia, who you can read about here.

Read more
A peeping monarch
Every game is a roguelike deckbuilder now, but I've finally found a few that have stopped me being a hater
King Krush Hearthstone pet
Hearthstone's first in-game pet is only available via a gacha mechanic that will cost most players a whopping 158 bucks
Marvel Rivals Ultron release date abilities: A close up shot of Ultron with a menacing expression as hordes of robots appear behind him.
Marvel Rivals' updated hero hot list reveals the most-played and highest win-rate characters, and it's good news for Support players
Deadlock's six new heroes: Mina, Billy, Paige, The Doorman, Victor, and Drifter.
Deadlock is drip-feeding 6 new heroes over the next couple of weeks, and is letting players decide which ones drop first
An AverMedia external capture card on a chair.
We've just crowned a new best capture card, dethroning Elgato in favour of AverMedia—now let me tell you why
Marvel Rivals Wolverine and Phoenix team-up in Season 3: Wolverine gritting his teeth as he gets ready to leap. His claws glow orange and are covered in a red haze.
Phoenix's terrifying team-up in Marvel Rivals Season 3 has me starting a campaign to get Wolverine banned in all my matches
Latest in Card Game
The player looks up at a foreboding manor house in a snowy landscape while holding a lantern.
This deckbuilding card battler where you bargain with the devil looks like Inscryption mixed with Battle Chess
Pikachu looking shocked.
'I won't show those illustrations to anyone as long as I live': Nintendo of America suggested giving Pikachu 'huge breasts' when Pokémon first came to the US, and no, it wasn't a mistranslation
An image of a Ho-Oh from the Pokemon anime, flying majestically through the air
The Pokémon Company apologises for plagiarising artwork in the latest TCG Pocket expansion and assures fans, 'We are also conducting a broader investigation'
Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7
Fans are celebrating Magic: The Gathering's latest return to its own setting, but numbers don't lie—the Final Fantasy crossover boosted revenue 23%
The player clutches a hand of cards in front of conjoined blue and yellow boards resting on a mushroom-dotted tree stump.
An 'Overwhelmingly Positive' idle game about plastic ducks floating in a pool has a collectible card-game successor, and there's a demo you can play now
Elder Scrolls fans are bringing the card game back from digital oblivion
Latest in Features
Paige, a new librarian character in Deadlock, looks towards her tome with curiosity.
If you're like me and fell off Valve's other MOBA Deadlock, these last few months of updates are worth coming back for
Steal a Brainrot character in base with brainrots in the background
One of Roblox's biggest experiences right now is a bizarre Italian Brainrot character-stealing simulator and, lord help me, I now understand why it's so popular
Total War: Warhammer 3 unusual locations - Great Unclean One
Total War: Warhammer 3's new random locations can cause a game-ending plague, plant nukes under your settlements, or even buff you in all future campaigns thanks to the power of Tzeentchian time-warpery
The Neewer LED lighting kit on a rug, with the PC Gamer Budget Win or Recycle Bin logo in the top right
I didn't know I needed dedicated photography lights until this $48 set turned up, but now I'm a convert
A promotional image for the game Caput Mortum, showing a mysterious man wielding a dagger, and trapped by a giant snake
Five new Steam games you probably missed (September 1, 2025)
Hollow Knight Godmaster art
Hollow Knight's creators didn't want to be constrained by the 'metroidvania' label, but they accidentally set a standard that every game since—even Silksong—has to reckon with
  1. Asus Zephyrus G14 and Razer Blade 16 gaming laptops
    1
    Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've tested a ton of notebooks this generation and these are the best in every category
  2. 2
    Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
  3. 3
    Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC
  4. 4
    Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards
  5. 5
    Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer
  1. A Crucial T710 SSD on some fans ready to be installed inside a gaming PC.
    1
    Crucial T710 2 TB NVMe SSD review
  2. 2
    Crucial X10 review
  3. 3
    MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI (2025) review
  4. 4
    Shure SM4 Studio Kit microphone review
  5. 5
    Alienware 16 Area-51 review

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...