One of the biggest changes inHearthstone BattlegroundsSeason 4 was the removal of the Poisonous keyword, which allowed minions to instantly kill any minion they damaged. Taking the keyword’s place is Venomous, which is like Poisonous, but only applies to the first hit.
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This change was probably goodfor Battlegrounds overall, but Murlocs relied heavily on Poisonous in the past. Fortunately, many of the Murlocs that came in Season 4 have helped the minion type stay competitive. Relying on a new hand-buffing mechanic, they can scale stats to exceptional levels. This list will help you decide which of them you should focus on if you want to win lobbies.
7Upbeat Flutist
The six health Upbeat Flutist’s effect gives you can make a significant difference in combat, even later in the game. However, the delay before you get those stats can make it awkward to use unless you have an especially powerful board already. You are basically making yourself weaker in the short term for long-term gains.
However, that sacrifice becomes less relevant in the late game. Your board will be stronger, and you will be more likely to have found minions that take advantage of stats in your hand. Additionally, you can utilize another minion from Season 4, Drakkari Enchanter, which doubles your end-of-turn effects, to make Upbeat Flutist’s impact even more dramatic.
6Plagued Tidewalker
Plagued Tidewalker is actuallya dual-type minion, sharing both the Murloc and Undead minion types. However, it doesn’t fit especially well into builds based around either of them. Undead are generally focused around gaining absurd levels of attack, which defeats the purpose of having Venomous in the first place.
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And Murlocs either want to gain stats or give Venomous to minions that don’t already have it. Again, there’s not much of a place for the Plagued Tidewalker. However, having Venomous innately makes Plagued Tidewaler a solid minion you’re able to slot into any composition and feel alright about it. In that way, it’s similar to Leeroy Jenkins or Mantid Queen; not a build-maker, but it can pull its weight in a pinch.
5Operatic Belcher
The entire goal of Operatic Belcher is to scam your opponent out of a win. They can spend the entire game building up massive minions, only for your garbage Murlocs to kill them without any effort. It’s not an un-counterable strategy; for example, it loses badly to multiple Divine Shields. But it can be devastating if your opponent isn’t expecting it.
There are a lot of minor synergies you’re able to put together with Operatic Belcher, including using Titus Rivendare to multiply the Deathrattle, or summoning it from your hand with Bassgill. But the simple truth is, it’s the sort of minion that makes your opponent want to uninstall the game, which means it’s probably worth running.
4Scourfin
When Battlegrounds Season 4 launched, Scourfin was a 6/3. The fact that it is still quite powerful after being nerfed should give you a good idea of how strong its effect is. Like the Upbeat Flutist, any stats the Scourfin gives you will be delayed unless you have some synergy minions.
However, it turns out that getting 5/5 is substantially stronger than six health, largely because attack is usually the stronger stat in Battlegrounds. Additionally, you can combine Scourfin with Titus Rivendare for extra Deathrattle triggers. And since the golden version of Scourfin gives 10/10 in stats, you can grant some truly absurd buffs in the endgame.
3Bream Counter
Bream Counter is the first Battlegrounds minion that is designed tonotbe played. Its ability allows it to be buffed naturally in a Murloc build, which often aim to play as many Murlocs as possible, and can additionally buffed by some of the other Murlocs on this list. With those factors combined, it doesn’t take much for Bream Counter to grow by a significant amount.
The obvious problem with the Bream Counter’s design is that, if you don’t find your hand-synergy minions, it could reach 100/100 in stats and not affect your game at all. Of course, you can avoid this problem by just playing Bream Counter as a big minion, though you’ll lose out on any future synergies if you do so.
2Bassgill
Bassgill is one of the minions that makes all the hand-buffing Murlocs can do worth it. Its Deathrattle allows you to take advantage of Upbeat Flutist and Scourfin’s effects immediately, rather than having to wait until later, and it lets you keep the Bream Counter in your hand permanently. Without Bassgill, those minions can still be decent, but you won’t be taking full advantage of their effects.
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Bassgill is surprisingly versatile as well: it can be used with generally strong minions, like the new Venomous Murlocs, or any other minion with a beneficial effect that isn’t a Battlecry. You can even fit it into builds where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it to have a home. For example, it has surprising synergy withvarious Beast buffsthat trigger when a Beast is summoned.
1Choral Mrrrglr
Like Bassgill, Choral Mrrrglr allows you to maximize the effects of your hand buffs. When combined with the other hand-buffing Murlocs on this list, its attack and health can reach into the hundreds easily. Unlike Bassgill, though, which can only pull the minions from your hand once, each Choral Mrrrglr you have in play can take advantage of the same minions. And that’s just the regular version; the golden Choral Mrrrglr gains double the stats in your hand.
The Choral Mrrrglr’s biggest downside is that it is more reliant on having other Murlocs to support it than any other minion on this list. If your hand is empty, it does nothing. However, when given that support, it can take what was already a powerful build and make it go supernova.
