by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Deck slots are precious, and several cards in Hearthstone are somewhat similar. So which one do you choose? Every Saturday, we take a look at two somewhat similar cards, and two of our writers will duke it out and make their best case to convince you that their card should be the one deserving of one of your precious deck slots.

Defender of Argus vs. Chillwind Yeti

This card face-off was suggested by HearthPro Show listener and friend of the show Jason. We promise, we’ll do our best and have a good, clean fight!

Rongar: I am stoked about this first listener requested face-off. This is what it’s all about: looking at cards that would occupy a similar deck spot, and warrant a good amount of consideration. In this case, the Chillwind Yeti and Defender or Argus are both 4 Mana cards, so it’s a perfect pairing.

Recently, it feels like Leviathan has had the upper hand in our debates. Clearly, he is OP as a Hearthstone writer, and since I’m going first, I’ll stick him with the card that recently got nerfed. Good luck with your Defender of Argus, buddy!

Let’s state the obvious up front: the Chillwind Yeti is a standard card, so it will be available to you right from the start and in any deck you build. Defender of Argus needs to be crafted for a minimum 100 Arcane Dust, or won in a deck. I can think of a bazillion better ways to spend 100 Arcane Dust. He does grant that cutesy taunt ability whereas the Chillwind Yeti does nothing. But here’s the good news: he doesn’t need to. The Chillwind Yeti is just a monster at 4D/5H that will give your opponent fits. Chances are, at 5H the yeti will chew through at least two minions. He’s tough enough to survive a bunch of board clearing spells, and at 4D sits right at the sweet spot where neither Shadow Word: Pain nor Shadow Word: Death can touch him. Any card that can’t be brushed aside with a spell and requires a minion to clear off the board is great. Of course, there’s always Hex or Polymorph, but that’s still a two-for-one and getting your opponent to burn one of those two spells on your yeti would be a huge win.

Of course, there are exceptions. Still, I’ve had to face the Chillwind Yeti on my Mage, and let me tell you: having to burn a Fireball just to get past him on turn 4 is beyond irritating.

Leviathan: Oh, boy. Rongar, you’ve stuck me with my hardest DEFENSE case yet. (Get it? Get it?!) But, here goes. The Defender of Argus was nerfed for a reason – my bro is OP. Even as I just headed to hearthhead.com to grab the card link for him, I just so happened to notice that the current top three most popular cards are the Azure Drake, Argent Commander, and…Defender of Argus. I would love to see you argue against why those first two cards don’t deserve to be up there. So, just by inclusion amongst that revered list, it’s clear that the Defender is a special card. Let me tell you why.

Have you ever made a deck and thought, “Man, I wish there was a way that I could help my early cards extend into the mid-game so that I could have a really formidable board presence and force my opponent to burn a bunch of cards just to try to equalize. OH, and man oh man. The dream would be if I could protect some of my precious earlier drops like a Northshire Cleric or Raging Worgen or Acolyte of Pain behind some taunt cards at the same time.” You have? I know, me too! All the time, right? Yeah, totally. So then I add in a Sen’jin Shieldmasta and two Shattered Sun Clerics and I feel really good about my deck…until I remember that Defender of Argus exists. He does all of that for 4 mana! Also, he doesn’t just make you feel good about your other cards and then peace out. He’ll fight it out with you, too, albeit, not as strongly as he used to. Let’s admit it; offense was never his first thought anyway, so we can forgive him for slacking in the gym recently.

In all seriousness, though, this card is valuable and that is indeed why it comes at a higher price in terms of availability/rarity. It just does more for you than a Chillwind Yeti could ever dream of.

Rongar:  I know Leviathan just gave you a bunch of razzle-dazzle explanations why Defender of Argus warrants your love and consideration. Don’t buy it. Late in the game, Defender of Argus becomes less and less useful. Got a big minion out? Great – taunt won’t do any good, because that big gun must go down regardless. Once you get to that point, there are plenty of cards that will take care of the big finishers that simply bypass all those taunts.

The Chillwind Yeti however is strong in any round.  Got The Coin? Great. Drop him on turn 3. Don’t have The Coin? Doesn’t matter. Turn 4 or later, the Chillwind Yeti is always a solid play. In late rounds, the yeti is comparatively cheap at 4 Mana and you can drop him in conjunction with a bunch of other cards to put enormous pressure on your opponent.

Fine, pick the Defender of Argus if you love him so much, but definitely leave another spot open for the yeti.

Scratch that, give the yeti TWO spots.

Leviathan: Yet, I still believe the Defender of Argus should come out on top. (Okay, that was actually a good one, heh.) Look, there’s no denying that the Chillwind Yeti, for a do nothing minion, packs a nice punch and is pretty healthy. Tell me how that matters when you’re being rushed down and your minions are being ignored each turn? In that situation, you’ll have plenty of targets to sandwich your Defender between and put a stop to that onslaught. You pointed out the whole “4-attack-Priest-can’t-handle-it” thing and you know very well that the Priest is near and dear to my heart. That’s fine though. I’ll point out that a Defender of Argus has the capability of stymieing this same, poor Priest by bumping up 3 attack minions to 4 before that Shadow Word: Pain can be drawn and played. More value. The Defender does fall down when it gets late into the game and you’re topdecking. You’re right there. No other minions on the board means the Defender loses value and quickly, but the simple fact that he’s still a 2/3 body means that playing him all alone will still put a body in the field for you to buff or trade or distract your opponent while you search for better answers.

In a world where Taunt creatures are becoming more valuable in the meta (just look at why the Druid is as successful as it is right now), the Defender gains value at the same time. Hunter Aggro is back and badder than ever, so, if I were you, I’d probably sub out that Chillwind Yeti that’s just going to get Kill Commanded or completely ignored, and get some Defender in your life. He just might save it.

What do you think? Did one of our writers make a compelling enough case for you to pick one card over the other? Share your thoughts in the comments below.