by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

I’ve put together what legendary should I craft for both vanilla Hearthstone and Goblin vs. Gnomes now and I like to think that my lists have been pretty decent in foretelling what the good legendary cards will be when you get to the point that you want to craft one. My only exception was placing Vol’Jin ahead of Dr. Boom, but I should have known better than to rank a class card ahead of a neutral one. If you’re looking to craft a legendary always ask yourself if this will fit into one deck or many decks and then go from there.

The Grand Tournament looks to be a little more exciting than Goblins vs. Gnomes in the legendary game as there are several possible game changers and a few cards that can make potential ridiculous combos. I mean, let’s be fair, Goblins Vs. Gnomes seemed to really have only 1 legendary that really came out of it that was powerful, I fully expect The Grand Tournament to have 3 or 4 that you will see often.

If you’re looking to craft your first The Grand Tournament legendary, this is a list you could consider.

Gormok the Impaler

I feel like this was a legendary that was kind of looked over. We had some crazy legendary cards like The Mistcaller and Confessor Paletress, but like Dr. Boom before him this card will just do work. Some of the best cards in the games are those that can be used as removal while also building your own board. Why do you think cards like Implosion, Fire Elemental, Blackwing Corrupter, and Big Game Hunter are so popular and also so good? They can remove threats while creating your own. They help provide huge tempo swings that either help you get back into the game, or get you to the point that you’re now far enough ahead you’re going to basically guarantee a victory.

Gromok will find play in Warlock Zoo, Aggro Paladin, and Shaman. I think he’d be a great fit in the new Totem Shaman meta. Gormok the Impaler will be this set’s Dr. Boom and because of that, should be considered the #1 legendary card to craft in The Grand Tournament.

Eydis Darkbane

Eydis Darkbane is the more attractive 3 mana neutral legendary sisters released this expansion. While getting divine shield is nice on a minion, being able to deal damage is even better. The only reason why Eydis Darkbane isn’t #1 is because of the RNG factor but she’s really strong for many of the same reasons Gromok the Impaler is or even Knife Juggler. She has obvious synergy with Priest, Shaman, Paladin, and even Druid. Before TGT the best 3 drop Priests seemed to play was either Deathlord, Injured Blademaster, or Dark Cultist. Deathlord is purely a defensive play to fight off aggro face decks that have a hard time dealing with taunt but has the downside of giving your opponent a minion when it dies. Injured Blademaster is a beefy body for a 3 drop and most the time Priest will use spells on him to buff up his health, with that Eydis Darkbane already becomes the better candidate. Lastly Dark Cultist is 3 drop 3/4 which has a pretty good deathrattle. If any card gets replaced by Priest in Control for Eydis I think it would be Injured Blademaster.

As far as Paladin and Shaman go, there is just a lot of good spells that can really buff you up. Eydis Darkbane can really help midrange and control decks be more aggressive in the early game and allow them to control the board more. Something that was definitely missing from Priest particularly.

Justicar Trueheart

This was one of the first legendary cards that was revealed in The Grand Tournament. 6 mana is a pretty competitive spot for cards in the game and being a 6/3 doesn’t do any favors for this card is a good 2 drop can basically kill this minion. However, the power of this card is in it’s battlecry as it’s effect sticks with you for the rest of the game. The thing that makes this card so great is the permanent effect that your opponent basically can’t do anything about. They can’t silence the effect nor are there any cards that can revert or change your opponent’s hero power yet.

When Justicar replaces your hero power with a better one it really means it. Hunters will now do 3 damage, Warlocks can now draw a card without taking life, Warriors gain 4 armor, Priests heal 4 damage, etc. In the game of Hearthstone hero powers don’t really have a ton of value for the mana cost, but this makes it worth way more. With Inspire being a mechanic now Justicar Trueheart has a good chance at being a powerful addition.

And of course of all the cards on this list, this one is probably the most fun.

Chillmaw

Blackrock Mountain brought Dragon synergy and The Grand Tournament is helping provide some more. Chillmaw is a large body on the board that your opponent could definitely gamble on by killing it. If you have a dragon in your hand then this is basically the Grim Patron killer.

This isn’t a card you would play in a deck that is all about putting out a bunch of creatures to fill the board, but rather one you would put in a deck where you are controlling the board. The biggest two decks I can think of where Chillmaw will fit into is Dragon Control Warrior and Dragon Priest. Both of those decks are slower and would benefit from another dragon, especially one which has taunt.

One of the great things about this card is if you silence it, it’s still a huge thread on the board being a 6/6. This card not only helps you secure board control but can also put a beating on your opponent. If you’re playing against a face deck, unless they have a silence they might be in a pile of trouble with this card. It’s definitely one of the stronger legendary cards in this set.

Varian Wrynn

I feel that Varian Wrynn is one of the best, if not the best, legendary card in the game. No other card in the game works like this that allows you to draw cards and have them go directly into play if it’s a minion. If it’s a spell then you have additional cards in your hand. He’s basically a bigger/badder Dr. Boom.

So why didn’t I list him at #1? Because like I said in my starting paragraph – the legendary cards you normally want to draft first are neutral ones because you can use them in more decks. However, if you’re planning on playing any kind of control warrior, this guy is someone you want on your team.

The only real drawback he has is the fact that he is 10 mana to cast so there is nothing else you can do that turn. There is some RNG effect depending on what you draw and you hope that you will draw into minions like Ragnaros the Firelord, Ysera, or Grommash Hellscream which will all have immediate impact on the game. What you don’t hope will happen is drawing into any minion that has a battlecry ability since those will not fire off.

Either way, there isn’t a better legendary card in the game and certainly not one that could potentially drop 4 large bodied minions on the field in one turn without needing some kind of funny combo.

Honorable Mentions

These are the cards that I had in my original list when I was trying to decide on the top 5. You’ll notice all 3 of them are class cards which is one reason they ended up not making the cut. The other reason is because I’m still unsure on how these cards will play out in the meta. Each one looks very powerful up front but also has potential to not be that good. They each have some pretty crazy mechanics that can create some really fun combos.

• The Mistcaller
  The fact that this affects minions in both your hand and in your deck is pretty crazy. However, just due to his mana cost and if late in the game whether +1/+1 minions will make a huge difference is yet to be seen. He’s either going to be game breaking or just unplayable.
• Avianna
  Avianna is all about the combo, and with Innervate you can do some pretty ridiculous things with her. She’s most certainly a 10 drop as her 5/5 body on turn 9 won’t hold up so you need to take advantage of her ability on the turn you drop her. With that said, since it’s a multiple turn combo and one you have to wait until at least turn 9, if not turn 10 to pop up – it’s here in the list because of the fun factor more so than it’s power.
• Rhonin
  Another combo card. With Flamewaker, Malygos, and Archmage Antonidas having 3 Arcane Missiles is a pretty scary thought. One of the best parts of Rhonin though is that mages can now replace Arcane Missiles in their deck because of Rhonin. However, his big draw back is the fact that you don’t get the spells when you cast him and he loses his power if he gets silenced. Because of that he doesn’t make it in the top 5. He most certainly finds a home in tempo mage though and if that’s your jam, definitely put him at the top of your list.