Let’s move on to Call of the Grove. I personally love this card. If you have seen my Worlds Druid deck, you should see that this card is a perfect fit. The card has a simple yet powerful effect—it allows the Druid to place an additional resource per turn, as long as the first is a quest. If you have multiple Call of the Groves out, you can place 3, 4, or even 5 resources per turn! Now, what can we do with these extra resources? If Call of the Grove is played on turn four along with a quest, you can place your 5th resource that turn, too. Then, on turn five, your 6th and 7th resources can be placed, allowing a fast Utopia. Unfortunately, the resource row is one of the places Call of the Grove can go that won't trigger Death Rattle, but that's a small price to pay.

If your opponent (or your own Druid hero) decides to destroy the resource acceleration ability, Death Rattle will trigger and reveal the top three cards of the deck. A revealed quest can be placed in the controller’s hand, which is a nice little bonus. Since a deck like this will probably run 18+ quests, you will have a very acceptable rate of hitting one off the trigger—around 80%.

I believe Call of the Grove has a place in Constructed, but I am pretty sure that its effect is too narrow for any use in Limited. Its Death Rattle trigger isn’t very powerful in a deck with five or six quests—unless you are extremely crafty, I can’t see running this card in Limited. However, our second Death Rattle preview will be seeing plenty of play across both formats.

Incendiary Totem is a nice addition to Shaman’s totem arsenal. It reminds me of Searing Totem—slower, but more dangerous. Incendiary Totem only triggers at the start of its controller’s turn, so it must survive a turn before you can start blasting the opposition. Unlike Searing Totem’s measly 1 damage, Incendiary Totem shoots for a whopping 3 points. If Scourgewar Limited is anything like Drums of War, then 3 damage will be a very key value to reach. Almost every 3-drop and many 4-drops will be destroyed by this damage, making it a desirable card for any Shaman.

What sets Incendiary Totem apart from all of the other totems is obviously Death Rattle. The main problem with most totems is that survival is necessary for continued use. Instant totems tend to see more play than non-instant totems, because you can play them at the end of your opponent's turn and avoid being attacked. Incendiary Totem breaks the mold, because it has an effect whether it survives or not. When you play it, your opponent will be in a tough spot. They can kill the totem and face the Death Rattle trigger, or allow the totem to survive and start machine-gunning damage. The better play will almost certainly be to destroy the totem as soon as possible, but even then, you get 3 damage.

Imagine being a Shaman and playing Totemic Recovery on the following turn. You could return a fearsome crew—Grounding Totem, Incendiary Totem, Mana Spring Totem, and Stoneclaw Totem, for example. Now the opponent is in a very bad position, facing down an army of totems, including another Death Rattle from the Incendiary Totem! I can certainly see Incendiary Totem making the Urrth Totem deck very, very competitive again.

The last thing I want to discuss are some tricks you can play with Death Rattle. These are a few examples I've thought of that utilize Death Rattle to its fullest potential.

1. Geoffrey Kimble + Incendiary Totem = Destroy target equipment and deal 3 damage.

This will work with any discard effect, such as Jack Coor or Elizabeth Crowley. Who knows what other Death Rattle cards we can use for this?

2. The Ring of Blood: Brokentoe + Death Rattle = Awesome quest + effect!

The Ring of Blood: Brokentoe has already seen play in Limited and Constructed, so it doesn’t need a big boost, but Death Rattle makes this quest much, much stronger! When you place Brokentoe, you can choose to discard any Death Rattle card and get an immediate (and free!) effect, while also negating the drawback of this powerful quest. Wow!

3. This one is a bit tricky, but I’ve been assured it works. A face down card with Death Rattle + Twig of the World Tree = free swing + Death Rattle effect!

When you destroy a face down resource, it will enter the graveyard as itself, and trigger Death Rattle. That should make Twig a bit more powerful . . . like it needed the help!

4. Emek the Equalizer + Priest Death Rattle card = ???

I am not sure what the Priest Death Rattle card does yet, but this could be a Constructed-worthy combo. We’ll have to wait and see.