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Card Face-off: Sludge Belcher vs. Spectral Knight

by - 10 years ago

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.

SludgeBelcherSpectralKnight

 Sludge Belcher vs. Spectral Knight

Shauna: We’re back and I’m pleased to be facing-off once again with Marc. This week we take a look at two new cards brought to us by the Curse of Naxxramas Adventure Mode.  It’s no secret that I like Sludge Belcher, it was my pick of the week after the Plague Quarter was released and it still sees a LOT of use in my control decks. What’s not to like? You get a Sen’jin Shieldmasta AND a Goldshire Footman all rolled up in a delightfully belchy mess. Sure, it doesn’t have the immunity to spells and hero powers that Spectral Knight has, but this card is still a hassle for Miracle Rogue and Hunters to deal with, and any card that upsets two of the most popular and powerful ladder decks out there right now is A-OK by me!

Marc: When I floated the idea of battling it out with these two cards, I had a feeling Shauna would go for the Sludge Belcher. What’s not to like? A hefty taunt minion with the Deathrattle ability to spawn another taunt minion.

Let me tell you what I don’t like about him: there are a gazillion ways to work around this minion. You can silence him, Fireball him, Shadow Word: Pain him, this list goes on. If he isn’t silenced, sure there’ll be a 1/2 Slime spawn, but that one is easily mowed down.

By its very nature, the Spectral Knight has essentially immunity from most common removal options. Unless you like eating his 4 damage output, the only way to get rid of him is to throw a fair number of minions at him. Especially if you have to option to play Innervate and get him on the board early (with the Coin as early as turn 2), you’ll be eating up a lot of minions.

While you won’t be able to buff the Spectral Knight directly with spells like Divine Spirit, you can still greatly enhance its utility with minions like Defender of Argus or Young Priestess.

Shauna: What Marc sees as a negative for Belchy, I see as a positive. Oh, you’re going use The Black Knight or a Spellbreaker on this hot mess of a taunt? Go right ahead, that will just make it safer for me to drop my more powerful late game cards – Get in there Tirion, the coast is clear! The important thing with this card though is that regardless of the board state, it helps to maintain or regain tempo. Dropping a spectral knight when you’re already behind on the board doesn’t do much to help your position. If you’re far enough behind by turn 5, Spectral Knight can easily be traded out with minions already on the board or simply ignored. In the same scenario, when you play a Sludge Belcher it affects the board immediately. It has to be dealt with in some format. It will draw out removal or silence and that extra 1/2 taunt is surprisingly annoying to remove efficiently. When you’re ahead, Sludge Belcher helps you to stay ahead and when you’re behind, it helps you to catch up. Spectral knight is a great card but in an overly aggressive meta, it can be just too slow and often times brings too little power to the board, too late.

Marc: The Sludge Belcher definitely has value, especially in Arena play where you cannot always count on drawing all the removal cards you may need. For constructed play, especially against spell-heavy opponents, I prefer the Spectral Knight hands down. While the Sludge Belcher must be dealt with immediately, the Spectral Knight has far greater potential for staying power on your side of the board. It’s beefy, and it dishes out a good deal of damage for 5 Mana.

We’ve talked up the Faerie Dragon on this site many times before. That card has such great utility, especially early in the game. The Spectral Knight is the Faerie Dragon on steroids. and does the same dirty work in mid-game rounds that the Faerie Dragon does early on.

It’s better than pasta.

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.


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JR Cook

JR has been writing for fan sites since 2000 and has been involved with Blizzard Exclusive fansites since 2003. JR was also a co-host for 6 years on the Hearthstone podcast Well Met! He helped co-found BlizzPro in 2013.


0 responses to “Card Face-off: Sludge Belcher vs. Spectral Knight”

  1. jakdripr says:

    I think Sludge Belcher wins this because like Shauna said, it always has to be dealt with, whereas Spectral Knight can be ignored sometimes. Spectral knight is a pretty good card though, and I honestly thought it’d be a lot more popular right now. But I guess since it takes up the same slot as the belcher it’s usually a choice between the 2.