The Old Gods expansion has been out for a week now, and certain legendaries have proven to be exactly as strong as we thought, while others have been surprisingly good – or bad. Here’s a list of my top five legendary minions from the Whispers of the Old Gods Expansion.
1. Twin Emperor Vek’Lor
As soon as I saw the Twins I knew they would be strong. An 8/12 taunt split between two bodies? That’s crazy! The value behind this seven drop is incredible, especially considering he doesn’t fight for the seven mana slot with too many other cards. Needing to have ten attack on C’Thun also isn’t nearly as difficult as one would imagine, with so many strong C’Thun minions it can sometimes be difficult to NOT get C’Thun to ten attack before turn seven. Incidentally, Twin Emperors is on this list as my number one rather than C’Thun, because I believe that the tempo swing from the emperors is far larger than the one from C’Thun himself, and that for their mana cost this card may be the strongest legendary in the game at the moment.
2. N’Zoth, the Corruptor
I definitely undervalued this guy. I kept thinking of using him in an aggressive Deathrattle deck, but in those types of decks the game is usually decided long before turn ten. However, he’s made his debut in a surprising place, in Deathrattle Paladin of all places! Turns out that getting a second Tirion for free when you play N’Zoth is pretty good value, forcing your opponent to play on the defensive against multiples of what many have called the strongest card in Hearthstone. Running N’Zoth alongside other strong Deathrattle minions such as Cairne or Sylvanas only adds to the value, and because of the incredible control aspect that the deck has, it is able to defeat nearly any challenger. N’Zoth also has potential in other decks as well, anyone who can fit him in as a late game bomb has been testing him out. N’Zoth has exceeded my expectations spectacularly.
3. Fandral Staghelm
Fandral Staghelm is another card most people thought would be incredible the moment they saw it. After the strength we’ve seen from Brann Bronzebeard, it was only natural that a similar card would be at a similar power level. So far that has proven to be true, as he is immediately targeted when he comes into play, or he quickly snowballs the game out of control. Combining him with any Choose One ability easily pays for the slight stat reduction he holds, and after that anything else is just a bonus, including baiting out your opponent’s removal. It is difficult to see a world in which this is not played in every Druid deck from now on.
4. Ragnaros, Lightlord
The only downside to Ragnaros, Lightlord is that he fights with Tirion for the eight mana slot in Paladin. This card is insane. An 8/8 for eight that also heals you massively the first turn it is in play? Oh, and it continues healing every other turn it lives as well? This may be the most game-swinging card I’ve seen printed, allowing for absolutely massive turnarounds as you not only stall your opponent’s push, you also provide an 8/8 that they must deal with or accept that you will have infinite life. Obviously this card doesn’t fit in aggressive Paladin lists, but every Midrange and Control list in the future will be insane not to run Ragnaros, he is one of the strongest legendaries thus far. He only places under Fandral and the others because he is a Paladin only card that only fits in a few archetypes at the moment.
5. C’Thun
C’Thun may not be top on my list, but I’d be insane not to include him at all. A card that has the potential to do upwards of twenty damage as he comes into play is going to be good, no matter what the cost. The meta hasn’t slowed down as much as I had expected, so C’Thun decks aren’t as strong as I had previously expected, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t viable. Unfortunately Doomcallers aren’t getting as much use as I had expected, or I would have C’Thun in my number one place. However, oftentimes the game simply doesn’t last long enough for multiple C’Thuns to see play. He’s still incredibly good, and as I said he deserves a place on this list for sure.
Honourable Mentions
Hallazeal the Ascended
I still think that Hallazeal is insane. The reason that he isn’t on this list is simply that Shaman is so strong that they don’t need him. They have no use for healing when they are always on the aggressive, and Hallazeal would simply take up a place where other damage spells could be. Down the line if Shaman gets nerfed or if the meta changes, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hallazeal easily stronger than many on this list.
Xaril, Poisoned Mind
I didn’t include Xaril because honestly I don’t know how strong he is, and that seems to be the opinion of most professionals as well. In playtesting he isn’t as strong as I expected, however, there are niche cases where he simply wins the game for you with two incredible Toxins. Rogue is a very difficult class to build properly, and it takes a lot of fine tuning. Down the line we’ll have to keep an eye on Xaril to see whether he sees play or not.