Running Wild: Wild Legendary Crafting Guide Pre-Rotation

Greetings, dear readers, and welcome to another installment of ”Running Wild”, the article series where I cover just about everything related to the wild format. Last time I spoke to you about the cards that I recommend you don’t dust after the rotation because they are going to be good in the wild format. Today […]

Introduction

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Greetings, dear readers, and welcome to another installment of ”Running Wild”, the article series where I cover just about everything related to the wild format. Last time I spoke to you about the cards that I recommend you don’t dust after the rotation because they are going to be good in the wild format. Today I’m going to take a slightly different approach and tell you which cards you should craft if you’re looking to get into the wild format. I will be focusing legendary minions, both class and neutral ones, that are either wild exclusive now or will be wild exclusive in April. You will, however, see a few that are not rotating out and those are on this list because I just deem them too good and I highly recommend that you craft them. Also, you might find some cards missing from this list. Please, make sure to check out my previous article, there you will probably find the minions that you think are missing from this one. As always, this is just my personal opinion, and it is not a set in stone rule on what to craft and what not to craft. Due to this, your list might be different than mine and that is completely fine, not everyone shares the same opinion. If you have those soon to be wild cards, don’t disenchant them. There is probably some stuff that I could have put on that previous list but we’ll see 🙂

With all that out of the way, sit back, relax and let’s just jump into this 🙂

The Power Duo

I must keep hammering on this point whenever there is a discussion about crafting wild cards. fandral-staghelm and nzoth-the-corruptor are the best legendary minions in the entire game. If you don’t have them, craft them immediately. Make them the highest priority on your crafting list, these cards are not only going to be good forever and ever but they will get more powerful as more cards are introduced to the set. I’ve crafted myself golden ones and never looked back, they are simply amazing, not to craft them would be foolish. Regarding the decks in which they see play, fandral-staghelm sees play in every druid deck and will continue to do so until the end of time and nzoth-the-corruptor sees play in every deathrattle and control deck (with rare exceptions) and will continue to do so until the end of time. Craft them now, you will thank me in a couple of years 😛

Wild Exclusive Cards

Dr. Boom

Last time when I did the list of best legendary minions in the wild format some readers were surprised that dr-boom was not on the list. Now I finally have a chance to address there. I’m sorry, but Dr 7 is a meme now. A couple of years ago it has been, hands down, the most powerful neutral legendary minion in the game, but things have moved forward since then. If you haven’t been playing wild in the long time then you might think that it is still a super powerful card but the reality is that it rarely sees play these days. Is it good? Yes, it is still good, I won’t deny that, but it is not nearly as powerful nor as dominant as it was around 2 years ago. However, I would still recommend crafting it simply because it is the best neutral 7 drop in the game and if you’re lacking a 7 drop then there is no reason not to include it into your deck. Just don’t expect it to over-perform anymore. It is going to have some impact but it won’t cause game swinging turns (most likely)

Loatheb

The combo stopper himself. I was kindda torn between putting adventure legendaries on this list because you can just buy the adventures for money and get all of them anyway, but I know that not everyone is keen on spending money on Hearthstone so I’ve decided to make this list a bit more free 2 play friendly 🙂

loatheb is a crazy, combo stopping monster…well, as long as spells are the crucial part of the combo, that is. When it originally came out in Curse of Naxxramas, loatheb was made in response to the very dominant and almost unstoppable miracle rogue. Freeze mage was dominant as well at that time but if I recall correctly it was miracle rogue that was the main antagonist of the meta. Not only does this card completely shut down freeze mage, which is not a very popular deck at the moment but still, it can also shut down decks such as miracle rogue and, more importantly, exodia mage. Exodia mage is currently seeing somewhat decent play in both formats and this is the best counter for it that I’ve managed to come up with. I can see a card coming out in the distant future that will say that battlecry effects last for 2 turns and then this is going to be the best card in the entire game 🙂 even if that doesn’t happen it is still a very, very good card and I highly recommend crafting it.

Justicar Trueheart

You know, honestly, justicar-trueheart might have as well been a warrior/priest legendary. Sure, her effect benefits all classes but those benefits are abysmal when compared to warrior and priest. The hero power upgrades, which are essentially a 4 health recovery for 2 mana, can provide the control decks the edge that they need to survive against aggro decks and win the fatigue war against other control deck. Aside from warrior and priest, the only other class where I sometimes play this card is paladin because getting two 1/1 dudes for 2 mana instead of one 1/1 dude is stupid powerful, especially when you play a deck that can further buff them. Unfortunately, other hero power improvements are quite lacking. Shaman’s hero power, choose a totem that you’ll summon, is whatever, especially now when shaman has more was then ever to summon basic totems. Warlock’s hero power, draw a card without taking damage, ranges from damaging to your deck to unnecessary because of tons of recovery that the class has. Hunter’s hero power, deal 3 damage for 2 mana, is actually quite powerful but justicar-trueheart just doesn’t seem to fit into hunter decks. Lastly, druid’s hero power, +2 attack/gain2 armor, is by no means bad, but the one gained from the hero card, gain either +3 attack or 3 armor, is far superior so there is no point in running justicar-trueheart in druid. Overall, I still recommend crafting justicar-trueheart for warrior, priest and paladin.

League of Explorers

I wanted to make an entry for each member of the League of Explorers but, to be honest, it is simpler this way. Just get all of them, they are simply amazing! brann-bronzebeard is the third most powerful minion in the entire game, after the first two entries on this list, so not crafting it would be a huge mistake on your part. reno-jackson is the be-all-end-all card of all highlander Reno decks. It doesn’t matter which class you play, if it is a highlander deck, you’re jamming reno-jackson into it to provide you with the most powerful recovery in the entire game. Was highlander priest giving you trouble before the nerf? Now imagine if it had reno-jackson in it! It is a stupid good card, it will forever be good, do yourself a favor and grab it. I would prioritize this one out of the 4 explorers cards. Next up is sir-finley-mrrgglton, another legendary minion with a unique effect, that basically says ”get either warlock or hunter hero power and turn this aggro deck into a more aggro deck”. It has dropped somewhat in popularity since it rotated out but there is honestly no other substitute for this card. The ability itself is amazing, fun to use and can make some pretty meh aggro decks actually perform a lot better. Lastly we have elise-starseeker, the better Elise, which is a control vs control stall breaker. There are a lot of legendary minions that find homes in control decks in order to fight other control decks but no card does it better than elise-starseeker. You don’t need those cards this late in the game? Ok, they are all legendary minions now. In most control vs control matchups this card is going to win you games by itself. A definitive craft!

Hall of Fame

Honestly, there is no reason not to.

I will keep this part very brief. If you haven’t crafted these cards yes, do so because they are extremely powerful. We will soon see new cards rotate into the Hall of Fame so craft those cards! They will see wild play forever and you will get all of your dust back. It is basically getting free cards. Craft golden versions if you have the dust (that is what I do) because you’re just going to get it back anyways! Honestly, Hall of Fame is the best investment in Hearthstone. Free cards? Free golden cards? Don’t mind if I do 😀

Standard Cards For Wild!

Kun, the Forgotten King

I love kun-the-forgotten-king! This card is just great 🙂

It is good on its own but it is better as the second part of kun-the-forgotten-king + aviana combo which allows you to do some pretty degenerate combos. I myself play a Kun/Aviana/Malygos druid deck at this moment and I’m enjoying every moment of it. The primary reason as to why I recommend this card is because I don’t see it becoming bad, well, ever. It is the card for making some pretty insane multiple minion based combos that you usually wouldn’t have the mana necessary to execute. You can play it with malygos, you can do a triple leeroy-jenkins combo with two faceless-manipulators, you can even play it with giants (which is something that a lot of druid decks currently do). It is an overall great card and one that I highly recommend crafting for the wild format.

Sunkeeper-Tarim

I, shamefully, still don’t own a sunkeeper-tarim but that is only because I’m saving my dust for the Hall of Fame rotation after which I will craft it when I get the dust refund!

This card has been really powerful in a lot of paladin decks, more powerful than I have originally believed it to be. When I first saw it I wasn’t underwhelmed but I wasn’t super hyped about it either. It seemed like a decently powerful card that might see some play depending on the meta. Oh, boy, was I wrong. sunkeeper-tarim is an absolute monster in paladin decks! Yes, it is still a great card in control decks but where it really shines is the recruit paladin deck. Here is how it works: You swarm your board with silver hand recruits, a small 1/1 minions that are surprisingly easy to generate, and then you slam your sunkeeper-tarim, turning all of them into 3/3 minions, turning all potential taunters into 3/3 minions, all potential game ending threats into 3/3, and then proceed to either smack your opponent in the face or make efficient trades before smacking your opponents in the face. It can get really crazy and I highly recommend crafting this card! 🙂

Lyra the Sunshard

Oh, look, another card that I don’t have 😛

Yes, I don’t have this card either and I’m honestly not planning on crafting it at any point ever. Not that it is a bad card, far from it, but it simply doesn’t fit the type of priest that I enjoy playing. I play either dragon priest, big priest or deathrattle quest priest. This is more of a card for combo priest and/or Reno priest and I don’t like those decks. Regardless, it is a powerful card when set up correctly. Pair it with radiant-elemental, gadgetzan-auctioneer and watch it draw you all the cards ever, easily finding you any combo piece that you might require while simultaneously providing you with multiple solutions in form of spells. If you’re a priest fan and a fan or Reno and/or combo priest deck that don’t pass on this card!

Spiritsinger Umbra

Hey, I actually have this one! 😀

The last card on our list (yes, the last one), spiritsinger-umbra is a very powerful sleeper card. If you check out my older Un’Goro articles you will actually see me mentioning the huge power potential in this card and calling this the 4th best card in Hearthstone. I will still stick by what I’ve said. I honestly do see spiritsinger-umbra as the 4th best card in Hearthstone, although its time to fully claim that title hasn’t come yet (but the potential is real!). You see, this is another one of those cards that will just keep getting better as time goes by and more deathrattle minions are introduced to the game. Eventually there will be some interactions that are decent in standard but absolutely broken and wild and that is when spiritsinger-umbra will get to truly shine. We still haven’t reached that point in the game but I’m sure that once nzoth-the-corruptor  rotates out that we will see some pretty crazy deathrattle minions.

Where Are The Other Cards?

Now, you’re probably wondering where are the other cards? There are only 5 currently standard legal cards here. Well, there are two reasons for this. First, if you check my last article you will see a list with cards that you aren’t supposed to dust. All of the legendary minions from that list belong on this one as well. I simply didn’t want to repeat myself like a broken record. The second reason, and I might raise some eyebrows here, is that I just don’t that any other legendary minion is currently a must craft for the wild format. There are decent minions but nothing really stands out that much at the moment so I would be careful with crafting anything else for the wild format. If you think that some cards should be added as the must have cards that you can’t go without then, by all means, mention them in the comment section below 🙂

Conclusion

We’ve reached the end of yet another ”Running Wild” article. I hope that my suggestions have helped you if you’ve been struggling with deciding what cards to cards for the wild format.

Are there any cards that you would like to see removed from this list? Leave your comments and feedback in the comment section below. A s always  if you’ve liked this article do consider following me on twitter https://twitter.com/Eternal_HS. There you can ask me all sorts of Hearthstone questions (unrelated to this article) and I’ll gladly answer them as best as I can!


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