Hearthstone’s Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion card reveal season is underway! We can expect to see multiple cards revealed on daily basis leading up to the expansion itself.
In this post, I take an in-depth look at Bearshark.
Bearshark
Bearshark is a common Hunter class card from Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion. It is a three-mana 4/3 Beast minion that cannot be targeted by spells and Hero Powers.
Hunter’s three-mana slot is stacked, but Bearshark might just be good enough to see play in that coveted spot, depending on the meta.
Bearshark is a Beast, so it works with all the Beast synergy cards in Hunter, such as Crackling Razormaw, Houndmaster, and Kill Command.
Bearshark’s aggressive 4/3 statline is susceptible to weapon and minion damage: two-drops with three attack have the possibility to trade up into it.
On the other hand, Bearshark is great against spell-casters, especially Mage and Priest. Mage’s many 2/3 minions cannot quite kill it, and Mage cannot even target it with Hero Power to deal that final point of damage. Note that Medivh’s Valet can target it with its Battlecry, so not all damage effects are off-limits.
Because Battlecry effects work, Bearshark can also be buffed on-curve by Houndmaster, turning it into a 6/5 that a Priest still cannot remove with Shadow Word: Death.
Bearshark does not work with Dinomancy, as it cannot be targeted by beneficial Hero Powers either.
Even if Bearshark is not in your deck, if you use Deathstalker Rexxar, Bearshark is an interesting choice for building a Zombeast: making it untargetable by spells for a fairly low mana cost.
What is the competition Bearshark faces? Here are the most common three-mana cards used in Hunter:
- Eaglehorn Bow
- Animal Companion
- Deadly Shot
- Kill Command
- Unleash the Hounds
- Cloaked Huntress
- Rat Pack
- Vicious Fledgling
Bearshark offers a more aggressive option than Rat Pack while also being more difficult to remove than Vicious Fledgling.
An aggressive Midrange Hunter could be interested in Bearshark: Bearshark’s main weakness is that it is fairly easy to trade into – imagine if its attack and health were reversed, then it would be superb – but an aggressive Midrange Hunter that plays a bunch of one-drops and follows them up with a Crackling Razormaw (which can also buff Bearshark) should be able to contest the board enough to get Bearshark safely into play. Once on the board, Bearshark is a threat to minions that cost more than it does – as well as the opponent’s face, of course.
Secret Hunter is looking to play Cloaked Huntress on three, but it might also be interested in Bearshark. Secret Hunter tends to be quite aggressive, so Rat Pack’s slow value is not quite what it wants. Whether it can include another three-drop is uncertain though.
Bearshark is an interesting card that offers Hunter even more options for the three-mana slot. It is best-suited for decks that are looking to be aggressive and care less about Deathrattles. Whether such a build can rise to prominence is uncertain, but Bearshark is an interesting tool for it.