How does The One-Amalgam Band work? New Amalgam explained

The One-Amalgam Band is one of the most intriguing card designs in Hearthstone’s new Festival of Legends expansion. With dual-type minions a common sight and the Amalgam concept already iterated one too many times, both these areas were waiting for a high payoff card.

And that card is now here! Given that recent Hearthstone creator discourse revolved around nerfing combos and mana cheating, what better way to recommit to board combat? In short, it's a card that’s literally for minions, by minions, since it rewards playing multiple minion types by creating a board value bomb.

Read on to learn about the card’s background, what makes it unique, potential synergies, and how it works.

The Amalgam concept isn’t new, with one popping out every few expansions. Their names are generally tied to expansion themes: The Witchwood had Nightmare Amalgam, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire had Circus Amalgam and Voyage to the Sunken City had Amalgam of the Deep. Some foreshadowing in play there, as the last one also had a more daring effect, in the form of a Discovering a minion of a friendly type.

March of the Lich King broke naming conventions with Mistake, but we’ll forgive that. And The One-Amalgam Band continues this thematic tradition for Festival of Legends. Its name is a riff on “one-man band”, a musician that plays all instruments on a song. Well played!

Amalgadon and Siamat walk into a bar. Is The One-Amalgam Band a joke to you? No, but Warrior seems to be--at least prior to Garrosh’s final card reveals.

Jokes aside, these iconic Adapt heavy hitters mashup into this design. While more akin to the former Battlegrounds terror, Amalgadon, it’s a Constructed card so we can only quantify its impact by comparing it to Siamat. Same format, same statline, similar effect. Likely weaker, if not building around the Battlecry, due to the uncertainty of the random bonus effects.

One could console themselves over the improved keywords available. Rolling Rush and at least one of Divine Shield, Windfury, Poisonous or Lifesteal will provide decent tempo. “Keep on rollin’ baybayyy”, to paraphrase Limp Bizkit. Stealth or Reborn are not ideal for immediate effect, but they might force the opponent to drop some potent removal or trade a few times.

Festival of Legends set lead Leo "MyntyPhresh" Robles gave some insight on how The One-Amalgam Band's Battlecry works. If you're into Battlegrounds, you know the process already. It works similarly to how a Mantid Queen counts its procs. Dual-type and all-type minions will count as only one tribe, amongst the ones that weren't already played, if possible. Thus, unused minion types are always picked, if available.

Seeing as this Amalgam can play all instruments, one would think there's nothing it cannot do. However, there is one thing: it won't proc a minion type off itself.

“Remember that one time, at Band Camp?” Beware, some tech cards can outright cancel Band Camp. Taunt might unironically make the Amalgam a mockery, since it would be vulnerable to the new and improved four mana The Black Knight.

The new Core Set's Tradeable card Royal Librarian can also fully counter a non-Rush, non-Stealth situation. Remains to be seen whether the meta makes it a popular choice, but Tradeable tech cards have historically been included far more than standalone techs, due to their versatility.

Speaking of the Core Set, having Magnetic back might augment this card, and Amalgams in general. Their low statlines may be compensated by a Magnetic buff. As far as Neutrals go, only the weakest of four Magnetics can be used in the same turn as The One-Amalgam Band. Featuring a guest artist proves costly in Festival of Legends.

One-Amalgam Band proves to be a welcome addition to the Festival of Legends expansion’s lineup. Theme-wise, it is sound, bearing the name of a music pun. It also capitalizes on unexplored design space, rewarding the use of dual-type minions.

Will it then succeed, and make Menagerie Warrior, or any other deck, a thing? Marching band or funeral march, be sure to keep yourself up to date with how it works out by following our Hearthstone section.

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