Consistency in Hearthstone: Legendary Analysis

Modded breaks down all the Legendary cards of Hearthstone in this second part of the series that focuses on consistency in an RNG environment.

Introduction

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Hello y’all, modded here! Not too long ago I talked about the concept of consistency, and how to obtain it (if you missed that article, you can read it here). Today, I’m going to go through all the Legendary quality cards in Hearthstone and categorize them and then rate them. My goal is that this will help solidify the concept of consistency for you so that you can look at other cards and determine their consistency, both in a vacuum and in a deck. As a quick reminder, here are the 3 categories:

  • Always good (most consistent).
  • Always decent, often amazing (fairly consistent).
  • Can be useless, can be insanely valuable (least consistent).

Naxxramas Legendaries

Since Naxxramas just came out and people are still experimenting with the new cards, I think it apt to start with these.

Maexxna

This card falls into the most consistent category, as its effect is straight forward and effective. Unless your opponent removes it instantly or gets up taunters with divine shield, this card will destroy minions. It’s health is high enough that it will usually take down at least 2 minions if given the chance. Overall though, this card is generally a weak pick outside of Hunter and Priest because it is overpriced mana-wise, and there are plenty of other prime six-drops that you can use. If it cost five mana, it would be a significantly stronger card.

Loatheb

This card also falls into the cost consistent category, but for its stats and not its effect. If played at the wrong time, (for example turn six against hunter when they plan on dropping a savannah-highmane), you might as well be dropping a vanilla 5/5 for five mana. At the time of this writing, there are no solid vanilla minions in the five mana slot aisde from feugen and stalagg, and neither will trade positively with a chillwind-yeti. Once we get a vanilla 5/6 for five mana I will consider loatheb to fall into the fairly consistent category. However, this card will always remain a strong card in its current state, as it is quite effective at limiting your opponent’s options.

baron-rivendare

By itself, this card doesn’t present much of a threat for your opponent. There’s also no guarantee you’ll get value out of it either, as the game doesn’t necessarily have an abundance of deathrattle minions for you to choose from. This places it squarely in the least consistent category. That being said, it can generate a lot of value when killing your own cairne-bloodhoof or sylvanas-windrunner, and it can spawn you a second thaddius! So it can be a good choice in a deathrattle combo deck, but those are still gimmicky in my opinion at this point, and it for certain is very mediocre outside of that type of deck.

feugen and stalagg

To be honest, I would run feugen in some decks even if it had no effects. These two cards are the only five drops currently in hearthstone that have eleven stat points that are distributed solely in attack and health. Feugen and Stalagg fall into the most consistent category based on stats alone, the effect is by nature unreliable as it is a two card combo, and you can only run one of each piece. Stalagg – unfortunately – suffers from terrible stat distribution. He dies to big-game-hunter, soulfire, swipe, Eviscerate, shadow-word-death, Spell Damage lightning-bolt, frostbolt + mage hero power, and anything with 4 attack. In other words, every class aside from Paladin and perhaps Warrior has a safe and inexpensive way to remove Stalagg, and even then Paladin can get good use out of aldor-peacekeeper. On the bright side, he is hazardous to your opponent’s health if he doesn’t have an immediate answer. Either way, every opponent without a silence or transformation in hand is going to be put on quite the clock once they see the second half of this duo on the board.

kelthuzad

This card can’t make use of its ability on an empty board, or on one where you can’t get any of your minions killed. On the other hand, having minions on the board is a perfectly natural situation, and your opponent having minions on the board is also quite common. This means that it is not difficult to set up a situation for Kel’thuzad to be useful, in fact it will happen by it self many times. Because of this, it goes into the fairly consistent category. As far as if you should use it, I’d say it’s fair game in a few control decks and in a handful of midrange decks. He makes up for not being 100% consistent with insane rewards. He’s like a neutral reincarnate that works on all your minions. Persistently. It also happens to be insane against Druids if you have a taunter up, due to their utter lack of hard removal (naturalize is rarely seen nowadays).

Class Legendaries

Restricted to one class and one class alone, these cards can offer interesting synergies with other class cards, and some would be used by every class if given the opportunity. Unfortunately, not all are worth including in your decks.

cenarius

This card rocks! Both of his effects are quite strong, and if one won’t be so great in your situation, the other one will most likely be helpful. Have an empty board? He’s a massive 5/8 + two 2/2’s with taunt. That’s a whopping twenty three stat points of value for nine mana (vanilla test puts the curve at nineteen stat points for a nine mana minion)! Have a board full of 6 minions? How about thirty seven stat points for that same nine mana! The versatility this card has is due to the “Choose One” keyword, and the strength of either choice not only land this square in the middle of the most consistent category, but also practically in the auto-include category for Token and Ramp Druid.

archmage-antonidas

Ah yes, the card infamous for turning millhouse-manastorm‘s Battlecry into a fiery Armageddon that ragnaros-the-firelord can’t come close to replicating. With the number of spells most Mages run, one might think that Archmage Antonidas might be fairly consistent. The problem is that most of these spells cannot be played on the same turn as it, and only a handful more can with the help of sorcerers-apprentice. This drops Archmage Antonidas into the least consistent category, as unless you happen to still have a cheap spell like frostbolt still in your hand, he’s just a poorly statted seven drop. fireballs are quite strong, so in a deck built around it, archmage-antonidas can be very much worth running, but you can’t just drop him into deck and expect him to be worth that spot.

king-krush

Like most simple legendaries, this card lands in the most consistent category. It always works as advertised, smacking your opponent in the face for a ton of damage, or crushing an enemy minion out of existence. Now this guy usually gets a bad rap as the worst class legendary and here’s why: He is exactly on the curve without offering anything unique. On top of that, there really aren’t any hunter archetypes that would make use of a big 8 drop. The only one I have seen uses ragnaros-the-firelord and like I said, it was only one. Why include a legendary that doesn’t fit the theme of your deck? To be honest this card might as well be a common, there is nothing special about it other than it has the highest damage of any charge minion in the game, but that’s not saying much when there is no bias towards attack or health. Maybe there’ll be a reason to use this card in the next expansion, but for now leave this guy on the shelf.

tirion-fordring

Another amazing legendary, this card brings a LOT of value to the table. As long as your opponent doesn’t have a silence or transformation in their hand, a lot of value is heading your way. With the scarcity of either in the current meta, Tirion Fordring finds itself in the most consistent category. Divine shield means that only hard removal can cleanly get rid of him. Even when your opponent finally gets rid of it, you now have a massive 5/3 weapon to bludgeon him to death with. This guy is big enough to escape death from most damage spells, and he’s out of big-game-hunter range. No reason to not run this in a Midrange or Control Paladin.

prophet-velen

On paper, the effect of this minion is quite powerful. In reality, one rarely gets to take advantage of that power. The only spells cheap enough to be played on the same turn as Prophet Velen are circle-of-healing, holy-smite and mind-blast. Circle of Healing at four health is already high enough that doubling it usually won’t make a difference. Holy Smite has most likely already been used by this point if you’ve drawn it, leaving only Mind Blast. A two mana Pyroblast sounds fantastic, and it is. But that’s one combo, using two cards that usually have only one copy in a deck. This drops Prophet Velen into the least consistent category. Not a high enough return to demand his use, we’d rather have cards that we know we can get some use out of.

edwin-vancleef

This card is a worst case three mana 2/2, which is terrible. But the chances of him actually being just a 2/2 are really low, it’s pretty easy to make him at least a 4/4 or a 6/6, which is already great value. Put him in a Miracle deck that spams cards left and right, and this card balloons real quickly. It goes into the fairly consistent category as there is a chance he’ll be bad, even though it’s a remarkably slim chance. Regarding whether or not you should use him depends on the deck. Aggro and Tempo Rogue won’t really get use out of him due to not being able play enough cards per turn to buff him, but it’s perfect for Miracle which loves to play a ton of cards in one turn. In other words, Miracle or bust with this card.

alakir-the-windlord

This card is interesting. At first glance it doesn’t terribly impressive, with it’s puny 3/5 body. However, its strength comes from the versatility its card text provides. Charge lets you make use of it as soon as you play it. Divine shield lets you use it for removal if necessary. Taunt means your opponent has to deal with it once you’ve made your play. Windfury means that you can take card of multiple targets or combo it with rockbiter-weapon for twelve or eighteen burst damage. This combination of stats put it in the most consistent category. As far as using it, it works well in most Shaman decks. Unless you’re running a deck that relies on bloodlust or leeroy-jenkins + windfury combos, you should probably be using Al’Akir the Windlord if you have him.

lord-jaraxxus

Ah, an old staple of HandLock. The bearer of the most powerful playable hero power. This card this quite strong looking at stats alone and lands in the fairly consistent category, the only thing limiting consistency it that he’s not so strong unless you’re low on health. While this card is fantastic, there is one major problem that causes many to not use it: it is incredibly slow. When played, it does not advance the board at all, outside of the heal and a 3/8 weapon, you have done nothing. Also the damage of the weapon is low enough that it tends to make a negligible difference at this point. The next turn you can drop a 6/6 infernal for a measly two mana with its hero power, but you can’t do anything with that minion except taunt or shadowflame it for another turn. And realistically, you’re already used up a few of those by the time you can play Lord Jaraxxus. This means it takes a full three turns to get full value out of it. It is hard to justify using such a slow card in the current meta, especially in a deck that has negative life-gain by the end of the game.

grommash-hellscream

Control Warrior’s signature finisher, whirlwind, shield-slam, slam, unstable-ghoul and deaths-bite (Death’s Bite to the face followed by an enraged Grommash is 14 damage, can be done on turn 8) bring it to a ten attack charger, whilst inner-rage and cruel-taskmaster bring it to a whopping twelve attack. The strength of this card comes from its consistency (yes it goes into the most consistent category). Warriors have plenty of ways to activate it and even if they can’t activate it, it’s still a 4/9 with charge, which is big enough to remove a fair number of threats. Now for those wondering why this guy is loved far above king-krush, heres’s why: Control Warrior is a well established archetype, Control Hunter is basically non-existent. Similar to why one doesn’t see Assassinate in constructed Rogues, it doesn’t meld with any archetypes that currently exist for said class.

Legendary Dragons

There’s really no reason to have these in a separate section, but I’m doing it to make it easier on my (and your) eyes. Now to the actual analysis.

alexstrasza

This card is one of those cards that really can change games in a big way. Deal fifteen damage to the enemy hero for one mana? Restore fourteen life to your own hero for one mana? Sign me up! Since these extreme situations aren’t all that common, but getting some sort of value is, this card ends up in the fairly consistent pile. This card is most commonly used as a way to heal up by classes that tend to burn through health, though it is occasionally used to to force a ton of pressure upon your opponent. If you’re looking at putting this card in your deck, make sure that it is one that is good at maintaining board control. Nine mana is a lot to pay for no immediate effect on the board, hence why it found almost exclusively in Control decks.

malygos

This card has an undoubtedly strong effect, however its real world effectiveness is very limited. That fact that is only combos with damage spells and that most classes can’t play a spell with it on the turn it’s played drag it down to the least consistent category. I like seven damage backstabs and nine/six damage swipes as much as the next guy, but if you can’t reliably pull it off it’s not really worth using. Outside of Zeus Shaman and Malygos Miracle, most decks can’t take advantage of the massive spell damage consistently, so this isn’t a card that will be seeing much use right now.

nozdormu

I can’t say this card has any amount of consistency, at least not with a straight face. Even if you were to use it in a tournament setting, it wouldn’t work. You would simply simplify your opponent’s gameplan to taking advantage of your voluntary tempo loss. Randuin Wrynn is the only deck this card can actually find a home in, anything remotely competitive is shooting themselves in the foot if they run this card.

onyxia

This card is fairly consistent, play this on a non-full board for value. It’s easier to have a emptier board than a full one, but unfortunately for this card we have to look at other factors. This card has three key problems that prevent it from being a quality pick in constructed. Firstly, with the dominance of Hunters in the current meta, that last thing you want to see is your own board being full and fueling a huge unleash-the-hounds combo. Secondly, 1/1 die so easily. wild-pyromancer single -handedly undoes Onyxia’s effect, as well as any AoE spell. Thirdly, if your opponent freezes your board, or stealths his own, you’re unable to play any more minions because you can’t kill off a single whelp. Overall, Onyxia doesn’t make a a big enough impact to justify use in constructed, and only works in arena due to the scarcity of spells.

ysera

Considered by most to be too slow for use until recently, this card is one of the strongest possible late game plays you can make. This card has no immediate effect on the game, but it will snowball considerably if left unsilenced and alive. The 4/12 body is excellent for trading, and some of the cards it gives you can singlehandedly drop the game into your lap (especially dream, nightmare and ysera-awakens). If you are running a deck that focuses on stalling out into the late, late game, Ysera is definitely worth at least trying.

deathwing

If you thought topdecking Doomguard on an empty hand was insanely valuable, try topdecking this card! He can be considered a high-risk/high-reward card, a battle of the answers. It can win you a previously unwindable game if your opponent doesn’t have a sufficient answer, but it seals your fate if they do. This card effectively reads: “put all your eggs onto one minion.” This card is one of the least consistent ones, which is a trait that is generally undesirable for “safety-net” type cards. It definitely has its moments, but I don’t trust it enough to use it.

Reward/Promo Legendaries

You’ll rarely see these used, so here’s why you almost never see them.

old-murk-eye

Mrglglglglgl! If you see tasty Murlocs in a deck, this card is almost never far behind. This card is fairly consistent, as all Murlocs have absurd synergy with each other. murloc-warleader + old-murk-eye give you a 3/3 + a 5/5 with charge for only seven mana! The only reason you don’t see this Murloc often is that Murlocs are in general not popular at the moment, and this card is useless outside of Murloc-dominant decks. Deciding whether or not to run this card is pretty simple. Are you running more than two Murlocs in your deck? If yes, run it. If not, don’t.

elite-tauren-chieftain

Giving your opponent cards is bad. Giving your opponent a card for free is even worse. Giving your opponent a free card whilst not having a consistent upside (you’ll get i-am-murloc and your opponent will get rogues-do-it at the least convenient moment possible). This card really is just a bad deal no matter how you look at it, plunging it to the depths of the least consistent category. On the other hand, who am I to be so hard on a card that was clearly designed to be a fun card, not a competitive one? In that regard, it can be used in a mill deck, where its downside can be negated, and it helps in getting rid of your opponent’s cards.

gelbin-mekkatorque

Mighty invention indeed. Turning your board into chickens is needless to say… undesirable. To put it nicely. Likewise, buffing and healing your opponent’s minions is grounds for termination. This card is of the same ilk as the previous one, fire this Gnome if you’re building a competitive deck, run him if you’re just playing for funsies. This goes without saying that this card is classified as one of the least consistent ones.

The Remaining Legendaries

Here’s the rest of the legendaries that wouldn’t fit in any of the prior categories, so I present you with the misfits remaining legendaries.

bloodmage-thalnos

This card doesn’t have the biggest effect in the world, but its usefulness and consistency set it apart. This card is one of the most consistent as you’ll almost never not have a reason to play it over the course of a match. Need extra mileage from a damage spell? Here you go. Need a different card? Drop this and it’ll cycle. Additionally, most of the time it’s your opponent’s prerogative to remove it. Unless it’s cleared by AoE, your opponent had to go out of their way to kill this guy, meaning he can potentially be a three-for-one, something rarely done outside of AoE spells and mind control. If you have a few spells that benefit greatly from spell damage such as mortal-coil, swipe and fan-of-knives, this card is a very worthy candidate for a spot in that deck.

lorewalker-cho

I mentioned earlier that giving your opponent cards was bad. It’s true even for pandas. The idea behind this card is that it will dissuade your opponent from using spells, which tend to be efficient. This in turn forces your opponent to make less efficient plays. Time for a reality check. This card is double edged sword, as it affects you in the same way it does your opponent. This card can go so wrong when you really need to play spells since you’re down on tempo, and you are forced to silence or kill him yourself. Even if you play it in ZooLock, which only runs soulfire, you’re still losing tempo a lot of the time as this guy has zero effect on the board without some sort of buff. The nature of this card’s effect designates it as least consistent, as what it will do varies from opponent to opponent. I personally can’t recommend using him, and least not in any deck currently in existence (unless you’re really itching to run a Miracle Mill Rogue, then by all means try your luck).

millhouse-manastorm

One of the few legendaries that could find use in an Aggro deck, Millhouse disappoints with his volatility. On one hand, he can have literally no drawback if your opponent has no spells in hand. On the other hand, he can single handedly throw the game. Consecration AND sludge-belcher on turn five? unbound-elemental + feral-spirit + lightning-bolt on turn three? eaglehorn-bow + any Secret + animal-companion on turn 3? These are all possible outcomes of playing Millhouse Manastorm, most of which will give your opponent too much tempo for you to recover from. This card goes into the least consistent category, as aside from dropping Loatheb after it, you have even less control on how good or bad the next turn will go for you.

nat-pagle

How far this card has fallen from its golden days! This card used to be an auto-include in practically every deck in the game, and now he sits unused by most people. As far as consistency goes, it falls into the least consistent category. The card draw is only a fifty percent chance, and your opponent is given the opportunity to remove it before you get value from it, making it a two mana Shieldbearer. Even if it draws you one card, it still hasn’t generated any value over baseline. The only way for it to generate value above the baseline is for it to be left alive long enough to draw two cards for yourself. Combine this with fact that it only has four health and that it’s not guaranteed to draw a card every time your turn rolls around, and you have a card that is nothing more than a shiny soft-taunt. This card is also less desirable than it used to be, due the increased popularity of aggressive decks, meaning that for the most part players will have even less time to get value from it than ever before.

king-mukla

One of the few Legendaries that’ll fit into an Aggro deck, this guy is three stat points above the curve, with a very real drawback. Unlike millhouse-manastorm‘s drawback which can be non-existent, the bananas will always comeback in some way. On the other hand, they won’t single-handedly throw the game. This puts King Mukla into the fairly consistent category. You can’t control or easily prevent the drawback, but it won’t spiral out of control. King Mukla is not only a huge body for three mana, it’s also a beast. While that’s not significant, it’s cool to pull off the occasional tundra-rhino + king-mukla combo. Aside from that, he generates a lot of early pressure, and he’s hard to remove if they don’t have a minion on the board to buff, especially as there aren’t a lot of five damage spells in the game.

tinkmaster-overspark

Another card that used to be a staple of practically every competitive deck, this card used to be a neutral hex that dropped a minion on the board. Now this card is mostly for funsies, due to the multiple RNG factors one must deal with. The fact that it targets a random minion (friendlies included) and it randomly selects between leaving a 1/1 or a 5/5 behind. It is smack dab in the middle of the least consistent category, it doesn’t get less consistent than this. This card has usefulness is some fringe situations such as turning a 1/1 token into a 5/5, or removing a stealthed gadgetzan-auctioneer. In my opinion, you shouldn’t run cards for unlikely scenarios, as it will weaken your deck as a whole.

leeroy-jenkins

This card is getting a nerf September 22nd, after which this card will cost five mana, up from four. This makes the combos listed below impossible. At the time of this writing, the nerf is not yet live so I will not comment about its post-nerf status.

One of the most popular and most hated legendaries, Leeroy Jenkins is the most popular choice when one is looking for a bursty win condition. Some decks just run it for the burst it provides on its own, and some run in for various combos such as Leeroy Jenkins + shadowstep or Leeroy Jenkins + power-overwhelming + faceless-manipulator. Leeroy Jenkins falls into the fairly consistent category, due to his drawback being one of the easiest in the game to counter. Any kind of AoE will kill off both 1/1 Whelps, such as fan-of-knives or shadowflame. Some people call him a neutral fireball, pointing at his six attack and charge for four mana, but I disagree with this comparison. First of all, unlike Fireball he cannot bypass taunts and he does have a drawback, which means while you might Fireball a druid-of-the-claw you wouldn’t waste Leeroy on that. Also, since he is a minion he synergizes with far more cards than Fireball does, giving him a higher risk/higher reward aspect. This card is not one I would use in decks like ZooLock that can’t hold on to card due to discard mechanics, or ones that can’t make use of it often enough like most Control decks. HandLock is unique in that it is the only control deck that benefits from running Leeroy Jenkins, due to how well it and power-overwhelming work with shadowflame, meaning that he’s more versatile and not solely a bursty win condition.

captain-greenskin

This card’s problem can be summed up in one word: Mediocrity. It has the stat points of a four mana minion (with sub-par distribution) and the effect of a one mana spell (upgrade), combined together for a five mana legendary. It goes into the fairly consistent category, since all it takes is a weapon to be equipped to get value out of this card (and Rogues have easy access to them). Aside from that, there really is no reason to run this card. Sure the effect is nice, but who wants a 5/4 in their deck? Unlike other 5/4’s, the effect is not spectacular or phenomenally game-changing. It synergizes with weapon heavy classes like Warrior, but the fact is there’s a host of other cards that want to go in that five mana spot like sludge-belcher and spectral-knight (and azure-drake in Rogue).

harrison-jones

This is one heck of a tech card. In a weapon-heavy meta dominated by Warrior, Rogue, and Hunter, this card is awesome! Otherwise, not so much. The fact that you’ll only get value out of it if your opponent plays a weapon (which only five classes can) places it into the least consistent category. While it’s not commonly used, it has seen recent inclusion in some Control Warriors, due to its usefulness against some Hunters, the mirror, and Control Paladin. This card is aboslutely a game changer when dropped against the likes of assassins-blade and doomhammer, hence it deserves a spot in some decks whenever a weapon-rich meta presents itself.

cairne-bloodhoof

Two chillwind-yetis for only 6 mana? What a steal! Carine is usually at least visible as a 4/10, but the deathrattle acts as a pseudo divine shield, allowing you to slam Cairne into a giant and still have a 4/5 baine-bloodhoof left on your board. The favorable stat-distribution allows this card to sometimes trade four-for-one! This card is quite at home in the most consistent category, due to all the positive yet simple upsides it had. It’s notorious for tanking hard removal (aside from transformations) and pumped AoE spells, making it a candidate for the stickiest minion in Hearthstone. And in this meta, stickyness is what matters, especially with Blizzard making it clear that they intend on keeping Hearthstone centered around the board.

hogger

On paper, Hogger’s not that bad. The problem is, it’s not good enough. The turn it is played, Hogger is just a glorified silver-hand-knight. Whilst it starts to generate additional value starting on the second turn it survives, the truth is that at only four health it dies to so many things, and thus rarely survives to the next turn. Like other cards, this card falls victim to being in the most consistent category, but not being worth using as it’s effect isn’t powerful enough (flamestrike anyone?).

illidan-stormrage

This card seems to fall prey to a double-whammy of weaknesses. First off, a 7/5 is not a great body. Vulnerable to big-game-hunter, and most medium minions + small spell or two small minions, this guy does not stick well. Since his effect is the summoning of 2/1s, his effect suffers from the fact that it’s not only mediocre but also that it’s easily counterable (three cheers for swipe!). This card is fairly consistent, the effect itself is not guarenteed, but isn’t very difficult to proc.

sylvanas-windrunner

Some minions are sticky, but Sylvanas is tricky. If you have a sizable board presence, it’s quite easy for this card to three-for-one you, removing 2 minions and giving its owner another minion. Even if no minion gets stolen, Sylvanas can act as a source of disruption, forcing the opposing player to either trade inefficiently to kill off all their own minions or forcing the pre-mature use of removal spells. Sylvanas takes charge in the most consistent category, due to the nature and strength of its effect.

the-beast

Another one of those mediocre six mana minions. If you thought your opponent killing off one of your minions for one stat point with big-game-hunter was unfair, you’ll think that them killing your turn six play whilst gaining a 4/2 and a 3/3 for only three mana is downright sadistic! This card is the legendary counterpart of venture-co-mercenary, there just isn’t a reason to run this guy with the drawback it has. This card is yet another reminder that just because a card is one of those “most consistent” cards that card isn’t necessarily good.

the-black-knight

This is an amazing card, while it’s technically a tech card, the abundance of taunts make it a far more consistent choice compared to its cousins big-game-hunter and blood-knight . This card falls into the fairly consistent category since taunts are so popular, with even some Hunters and Miracle Rogues adopting sludge-belcher. This card is fantastic in Midrange and Tempo decks because it’s a two-for-one, removing an opponent’s minion whilst simultaneously increasing your own board presence. Heck, killing a sunwalker or ancient-of-war for only two mana will make anybody’s day! This guy isn’t so great in aggro counter decks, but against anything else it deserves some consideration.

baron-geddon

Another tech card, this time one that is tailored to roast (pun intended) Aggressive decks. This minion is interesting, as it’s 7/5 body isn’t that great against Aggro decks, though that high attack really punishes ZooLock. The two damage AoE is great against many decks, in fact so effective that only the most staunch Control decks can afford to use Baron Geddon due to it affecting all characters. While this card doesn’t see much use currently, its a solid card classified in the most consistent category, that despite its drawbacks can spell doom for your opponents in about the time it takes for you to yell “FIRE!” This guy truly is an abomination on super steroids.

gruul

This is one mega minion that no one plays, and for a very good reason: He is just that – a big minion with no other effects. Unless you taunt him up with sunfury-protector, this guy changes nothing when you play him. If removed with hard removal, you’ve gained nothing. Other minions would at least have done something (Ysera would’ve given you a Dream card, Alexstrasza would’ve healed you or hurt your opponent, etc.) so that you get some value out of them, but here you get none. In fact, his extreme mana cost guarantees that your opponent will gain tempo by using hard removal on it, as Gruul costs eight mana, whist the most expensive hard removal in the game (siphon-soul) only costs six mana and heals the user. This card is in the most consistent category, but there really is no good reason to use it, at least right now.

ragnaros-the-firelord

By fire be purged! This card has everything we want from a big legendary. It has an immediate impact as soon as it hits the board, it’s resilient against silence, it’s a persistent threat, and it’s effect is quite strong. This guy can really threaten your opponent’s life total, or remove a big play of their’s. Silence just turns this guy into a giant, so it’s a great way to sneak in lethal. This card goes into the fairly consistent category, due to the RNG nature of it’s effect. It’s still super strong, which makes Ragnaros one of the most popular legendaries for Control decks, and sometimes you’ll see it in some Midrange decks.

Conclusion

I hope that now you have a clearer view of the idea of consistency, and of all the little details that can change the consistency of a given card. My goal is that you can now take any card in the game, and label it properly in one of the three aforementioned categories, as well as determine if those cards are worth being used.

I love hearing y’alls opinion, please let me know what you thought or if you have any questions in the comment section below!


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Hearthstone Battlegrounds announcement at BlizzCon 2023, on November 3, 2023. (Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)
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