It was a rare game in which my opponent played Kazakus and I didn't feel a sense of exponentially expanding dread as they picked a spell from the two fizzing Discover effects. My heart sunk, certain in the knowledge that some absolute bullshit was about to occur, usually involving wiping my board and summoning a demon. As one of the early 'Highlander' cards—so called because they only work if your deck contains no duplicates (because "there can be only one!")—Kazakus was an incredibly potent legendary that helped enable the entire archetype.
And now he's back, albeit a little bit different. The original Kazakus rotated out Standard in April 2018, but a new version has been designed for the Forged in the Barrens expansion, which releases on March 30. The new card is called Kazakus, Golem Shaper, and this time he's creating bespoke minions rather than spells. As before, you'll be given the choice of creating a 1, 5 or 10 Mana card, but this time it will have corresponding stats of 1/1, 5/5 or 10/10. Next, you make two Discover choices for its effects, which will include effects such as 'Taunt' and 'Battlecry: Draw 2 cards'.
Whether that flexibility proves quite as potent (and therefore annoying) for Golem Shaper as it did the OG Kazakus probably depends on whether there's an AoE 'deal damage to all minions' option, because being able to clear boards in the mid game was often the plum choice. Note also that the new card has the same cost and statline as its predecessor: 3/3 for 4 Mana.
Kazakus, Golem shaper was revealed in the video embedded above by the brilliant animator Wronchi. It's well worth a watch, and also contains another new card: Primordial Protector. Reveal season for the new expansion is now well underway, and you can see what's been spoiled so far over at the official Hearthstone gallery for Forged in the Barrens. We'll be doing our own on Friday, but I'll say now that it's a spicy spell for Paladin.
