Hearthpwn

~~ Nathanandhishat's card reviews proudly present... ~~

The pinnacle of the princes, the titan of the two drops, there can only be one, ladies and gentlemen, Prince Keleseth!

While this card has had a rough time on these forums so far, I'm here to fight it's corner, and stake the claim that it's one of the (potentially) most powerful, and certainly one of the most interesting cards from the new expansion.

First of all I'd like to discuss the sheer strength of the base design of this card, as I feel it's worth going over. Cards which restrict the way you build your deck in exchange for very powerful effects are not a new idea in Hearthstone, (Reno, Kazakus, the Quests) and they haven't always been great, but they have always been interesting, and our buddy Keleseth is no exception. Building a deck using this card asks two things of the player: can your deck function without any other two drops?; and can your deck take advantage of the buff effect well enough that it's worth the inclusion? These are difficult, important questions for a deckbuilder to consider, and make the card far from an auto-include, in any deck. As far as I'm concerned, any card that is an auto-include for decks of it's respective class is a fairly poor design, and Keleseth is as far from that as a card can possibly get.

Another interesting facet to the card is the way in which it's restriction isn't a hard lock on  other two drops in your deck, but, as was the case with Reno and co., a soft one; by which I mean that you can play other two drops in your deck and still take advantage of the effect if they're out of your deck by the time you play Keleseth. This may sound irrelevant, but Knights of the Frozen Throne has brought with it a few new targeted draw spells, which, if you build your deck correctly, can ensure that they pull all other two drops out of your deck, setting you up to activate Keleseth's battlecry and have a good ol' time. The cards in question are Forge of Souls  and Ice Fishing, both of which I think are cards with high potential in their own right. Imagine a new take on Pirate Warrior where the sole two drops beyond Keleseth are two copies of Fiery War-Axe and one copy of Forge of Souls; or an aggressive Shaman list running two Bluegill Warriors alongside one Ice Fishing; These setups allow you to mulligan hard not just for Keleseth himself, as you normally would, but for these targeted draw spells also, which are not only great value for the mana, but also now serve as activators for your powerful legendary later, and thin your deck to increase your chances of drawing him. These ideas aren't perfect, of course, and there's always the chance that your targeted draw spell gets stranded in your deck, leaving you with a dead card when you draw Keleseth, but the potential for decks like this is high.

Design talk aside, what decks does this Prince fit in? Well, there are a few that have been tried so far, including a new take on Zoo Warlock, aggressive Paladin lists, and some versions of Quest Hunter, but none have been particularly successful on ladder. As I mentioned above, I think this card could fit well into Warrior and Shaman lists too, particularly the latter, as Shamans don't sacrifice too much at the two drop slot in order to play this, and it gels well with Doppelgangster and Saronite Chain-Gang, two cards which all the aggressive evolve Shaman decks are currently playing. The ability to buff up all your small, insignificant Evolve-fodder minions adds more depth to an already powerful deck. Other classes tend to have to sacrifice too much power by putting aside their staple two drops, but the ones I mentioned definitely have the potential to make use of the card going forward.

So there you have it, a small ramble on the virtues of an unpopular two drop legendary. I hope it inspired you to look deeper into the synergies offered by new cards, and to try some of the ideas out; who knows, Keleseth Evolve shaman may be the next big thing.

Until next time, I've been Nathanandhishat, you've been gorgeous, goodnight!

Seeing this card played against you on turn 2 is soul-crushing.

I hate this card. 20 games, only twice in my starting hand, but I had Patches 5 times.

Question: Will the battle cry only effect the minions currently in the deck, or does the effect treat the deck itself as a "buffed zone" after Prince Keleseth has been played? For example, will new minions shuffled in by Archbishop Benedictus or Dead Man's Hand also receive this buff? Has anyone tried it?

Edit: Tried it, Battlecry's effect seems to only apply to the minions currently in the deck when Keleseth is played. Bummer, there go my hopes for a potential combo :/

Came for this information, as I'm loving Hemet, Jungle Hunter and Archbishop Benedictus in my Highlander Priest. Thanks!

If i wanted to use this card, i can't... Then i have to remove equality from my Paladin deck and that can't do!

Quote from Remus88Romulus >>

If i wanted to use this card, i can't... Then i have to remove equality from my Paladin deck and that can't do!

only reason why I'm not dusting this now is to avoid getting it again in future packs. lol.

no complaints in opening this though, considering I'm only 2 packs into my pity timer prior getting this.

thanks for the 400 dust blizz!

You were wrong lmao

haha. good thing I didn't dust this prince before it got broken.

Surprisingly good in zoolock, at least in early KFT. Zoo 1 drops are just so powerful they carry the decks just fine.

YOU'RE LUCKY

Complaining about opening a free legendary of his choice.

I actually think this card is quite good. As it's been mentioned it can work well with a zoo type warlock. I've mostly messed around with it in a mage deck. Simulacrum works pretty well with the card. Even if you don't hit the prince you can get a buffed minion with it.  

I can't imagine it working well in any of the grimy goons classes, since they can just hand buff anyways. Haven't messed around with it in them to say it won't though, but it is not a bad card at all. 

For sure an aggro tool. 

Put him in your zoolock or wild renolock and watch your overstatted minions win you games! He's winning me games!

got a golden one today on launch, well looks like i get to choose a new legendary :D

Please don't dust him! He's so good in zoolock and some builds of wild renolock! I crafted mine in gold and he's winning me games!