Reviewing the GvG class legendaries

Introduction

What’s up people, JakdRipr back, this time with a review of the different class legendaries released in GvG. The expansion has been out for almost a month now, and while there’s still a lot of growing to do we’ve started to get an idea as to which legendaries are irreplaceable, which are playable, and which are just downright garbage. I’m gonna go through all 9 and give my thoughts on how they stack up, so I guess let’s get started on those cards.

Card Ratings

Druid

Malorne

Score: 5/10

This card hasn’t seen much play yet because it really doesn’t fit in the current combo druid. That deck is trying to kill you as fast as possible and this card lends itself better to a slower more controlling deck build. With that said, I think druid has the tools to build a control type deck, and if they do I feel this card will start to see a lot more play. A 9/7 isn’t hard to remove, but a 9/7 that shuffles itself back into your deck can be a serious problem in a drawn out control match-up.

Hunter

Gahz’rilla

Score: 4/10

I applaud blizzard for giving a hunter a card that lends itself to a slower play-style, but with that said I just don’t think this card is good. If you’re playing a legendary that costs more than 6 mana, you want it to either do something on the turn you play it or be very difficult to remove. This hits the board and has no actually effect, on top of that it requires other factors to reach it’s full potential, since hunter can’t just ping this card to double it’s attack or something. Even if control hunter becomes a thing, I don’t imagine this will see much play down the line, especially not with Dr. Boom and Troggzor the Earthinator taking up the same mana spot.

Mage

Flame Leviathan

Score: 1/10

*sigh*, I tried to like this card, I really did. Mage is my second favourite class in the game, so I really wanted to like the new legendary we were getting. But this card is just bad. It’s a 7/7 for 7 mana, with an ability that not only tells your opponent when you draw it, but can just as easily hurt you. I’m just glad mage got so many good class cards that it didn’t matter that this card was awful.

Paladin

Bolvar Fordragon

Score: 6/10

Love these cards or hate them, you gotta give blizzard credit for trying something different with a lot of these legendaries. Here we have the only card in the game that interacts with the board while sitting in your hand. This card has to be one of the surprises of the expansion since everyone thought it would be garbage. Sure silence wrecks this card something fierce, but considering paladins usually run cards like Sylvanas Windrunner, Ysera, and the almighty Tirion Fordring, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It interacts really well with the hero ability, has a solid 7 toughness, and his size can be controlled depending on the match-up and what you wanna play around.

Priest

Vol’jin

Score: 9/10

Now we’re talking. I called this the best legendary of the entire set when it was announced, and while Dr. Boom is probably going to take that title when it’s all said and done, this card has certainly lived up to the hype. Similar to a Fire Elemental it allows you to establish a threat while killing off one of their creatures, the difference being there’s no limit to how much “damage” his battlecry does. The only downside to this card is it requires help from other cards to actually remove the creature in question. That, and the fact that they gave the leader of the horde to a member of the alliance, but let’s not go there.

Rogue

Trade Prince Gallywix

Score: 7/10

Another really solid legendary, I feel this cards only weakness is that Rogues haven’t found a way to use it yet. Just off stats alone, a 5/8 for 6 mana is amazing, the 5 attack allowing it to kill most midrange creatures and the 8 health allowing it to survive those trades. Then you toss in the ability, all of a sudden your opponent is forced to either make inefficient trades, or give you high quality removal. Just an all around top notch legendary that just hasn’t found the right deck yet.

Shaman

Neptulon

Score: 8/10

Of all the class legendaries, this had to be the most underrated coming into the expansion. I will admit, when this card was announced I felt nothing but disappointment, I underestimated the power of playing with a 34 card deck every game. I also underestimated the value of having 4 really cheap creatures to help refill your board after a board clear. Sure he dies to BGH and overloads you for 3 the next turn, but the opponent still has to deal with 4 other Murlocs. And because there are so many different Murlocs, your opponent doesn’t even know what to play around. You can remove their creatures with Bluegill Warriors, burst them out with Old Murk-Eye, or in long control games, mill them out with Coldlight Oracles. I won’t lie, my bias for Shaman as a class made me want to like this card, but I definitely feel even if I wasn’t biased, this card has proven it’s worth.

Warlock

Malganis

Score: 3/10

If Neptulon was the most underrated card coming into the expansion, this has to be the most overrated. I could not understand peoples excitement over this card, neither of it’s abilities are particularly impressive. On one hand giving +2/+2 to all demons is okay, but if Cenarius has taught me anything, it’s that having a board big enough to make the buff worth it is harder than you think. Never mind the fact that he only affects demons, the buff isn’t even permanent, and it requires you to play demons in your deck. Then there’s the second half of his ability, giving the hero immunity which would be crazy were he not so easy to remove, especially with everyone and their mother running BGH now. Finally, statistically he’s nothing to write home about, a 9/7 for 9 only really dodges The Black Knight and can’t even take a hit from Ragnaros the Firelord. Once the initial hype dies down, I can’t image he’ll be seeing much play.

Warrior

Iron Juggernaut

Score: 4/10

Finally, we have the warriors legendary. At a first glance this card doesn’t seem very good. A 6/5 for 6 isn’t particularly impressive, Fire Elemental gives you immediate value, whereas Savannah Highmane is a pain to remove; this card however, can realistically just be a 6/5 for 6. Add that to the fact that Warrior doesn’t necessarily do enough damage over the course of a game to make players worry about the Pyroblast they may or may not draw and there doesn’t seem to be much reason to run this card. However, it is a mech and in the right deck that 10 damage could be beneficial, but at the moment it doesn’t seem very good.

Conclusion

So there you have it people, my ranking of the 9 class legendaries, even if you disagree with my scores, I hope I’ve made compelling enough arguments as to why I gave each legendary their respective scores. Let me know what you think in the comment section and happy new year to you all.

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