Edwin returns as one of four legendary cards in Hearthstone's The Deadmines

Cards from Hearthstone's The Deadmines set.
(Image credit: Blizzard)

Hearthstone's Standard mode is in a pretty weird spot right now, with the dominance of the Questline cards having chased most Midrange and Control decks out of the meta, leaving only ultra fast Aggro to compete. It's not entirely clear whether the release of The Deadmines mini-set tomorrow, and the 35 new cards it contains, will change that situation much. But here's hoping! 

Today, Blizzard revealed the remaining four cards, all of which are legendaries. Here they are, starting with the return of combo king Edwin Van Cleef, who looks quite a bit less menacing than when his previous iteration was finally nerfed

The chance to pop off with a 'big' Edwin is still there, but seems substantially reduced.   (Image credit: Blizzard)

Note that Mr Smite is a Pirate himself, so can go face on the turn you play him. Arr harr! (Image credit: Blizzard)

Cool effect which will presumably have some bespoke UI, but in terms of power it whiffs of meme card. (Image credit: Blizzard)

I don't care how good he is. I will protect him at all costs. (Image credit: Blizzard)

My expectation is that the biggest winner here is going to be the Warrior Questline, which revolves around summoning pirates. Not because Mr Smite is insanely OP or anything, but his Charge-granting passive ability will pair nicely with whatever you summon from The Juggernaut Pirate ship. Combined with another new card, Defias Cannoneer, I would expect the deck to be built more aggressively than the current Control variant being played. 

I've put the other cards from The Deadmines in the gallery below. The set will cost $15 or 2000 Gold, and arrives alongside Patch 21.6, which will also add Diablo to the Battlegrounds and Duels modes. Mercenaries is also getting some new Mercenaries, again including Edwin, who's now canonically a pirate. Basically, the patch is pirates all the way down, so you might want to invest in some good rum if that's not your thing.

Tim Clark

With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now. 

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