Deadwood and Keeper of the Forest to duke it out–I’ve got morning wood

S2 has announced one of their next new heroes will be Deadwood, concept art seen above.  Clearly the intention is there for a dark and sinister counterpart to Keeper that will fight for the Hellbourne.  What made him so evil and bent on destruction?  Maybe he got tired of Pyromancer starting so many wildfires, or those damn teenagers wouldn’t stop carving hearts with their names into him after their hot forest make-out sessions.

I feel like we’re getting somewhere, but I’d rather aimlessly speculate about his possible arsenal…  is that a tree bazooka coming out of his right arm?  Please S2, let this be the case, for I’ve spent many a night dreaming of one day using my very own tree arm bazooka to demolish noobs with.  Rumors are running hot on the HoN Forums about Deadwood possibly being a ranged Strength hero, like the one-and-only Huskar in Dota.  A tree bazooka could be the key to this theory, but then again maybe he just throws apples like those Wizard of Oz trees, or huge rocks like those badass Ents in Lord of the Rings (below).

If you ask me, clearly that left arm is made for punching shit; so no friends, Deadwood is just another Strength melee hero made for brawling.  This reminds me of my high school mascot, which oddly enough, was a burly-ass tree… amazing how there are SO MANY instances of walking, talking trees in our culture.  ALSO UCSD HAS A TALKING TREE ON THEIR CAMPUS.

Anyway, I also think S2 might toss Keeper’s old, now-removed ability, Nature’s Vengeance, into Deadwood’s arsenal, because ripping up trees to smash things with seems just the kind of ruthless, dag-nasty thing an evil pile of wood would be doing if you ask me.  They also hinted at something like this in the latest patch: “Keeper of the Forest changed significantly (in preparation for the arrival of Deadwood)… Removed Nature’s Vengeance and replaced it with Nature’s Protection”.