I understand from the perspective of pure card advantage Argent Squire and Leper Gnome are usually the preferred one-drop. However I find the utility contained in Elven Archer to be unequaled at times. Its got the versatility of the mages hero power for only one mana... It can be used to activate Enrage on one of your cards, summon another Grim Patron, draw a card with Acolyte of Pain, it can activate certain traps, or just inflict that last bit of damage to hatch your Nerubian Egg.
I really just like the card and feel that its never really talked about... What do you guys think?
Certainly is great to have in the right situation, unfortunately in a 30 card deck though, you just can't fit all of those niche cards that you want. There are a ton of cards like elven archer that I would love to play in some of my decks, I just can't make justifiable room.
Elven Archer is just not quite good enough for constructed play. When you're building your deck and considering putting in 1 drops, you have to put in the 1 drops that's going to net you the absolute maximum value. There's class card 1 drops that are just insane, such as Northshire Cleric, Mana Wyrm, Webspinner etc. Then there's the neutral 1 drops that are generally considered better, like the Argent Squire you mentioned and Zombie Chow. When compared to these 1 drops, Elven Archer's 1 damage utility just seems to fall a bit short.
In arena though, Elven Archer can actually be a quality pick and fulfills all those roles you mentioned in your original post. So, even though the card doesn't see much play in high end constructed, she certainly has her place in the game as a whole and is by no means a bad card.
There are many cards that seem like they should be in a lot of decks when you talk about their best-case scenarios. But think about a different case, where you are in top deck wars and you draw an Elven Archer against even a mid-range card like Piloted Shredder. The problem with Elven Archer isn't that it's inefficient.... it's that it is too individually weak.
The only deck i'd consider running her in is Gahzrilla OTK hunter and a Paladin Hobgoblin deck (with Repentance) but i havent been able to make those decks consistently work yet. Like someone else said already, she is too individually weak.
I think the biggest problem with Elven Archer is that it's often not very good on turn 1. Rarely do you want to just throw it down on an empty board, so it only really comes in handy at the start of the game as a response to your opponent's 1-health 1-drop. Compared to something like Leper Gnome in an aggro deck, comes out on 1 and often deals 4 damage - or an Argent Squire, comes out on 1, sticks to the board, gets buffed and trades up. For a 1 drop to be worthy of a card slot, it needs to be useful in almost any situation on turn 1 - or have a particularly strong synergy with your deck like Northshire Cleric.
It can definitely be useful in token-heavy meta's or in certain classes, but usually i'd take Mortal Coil or Arcane Explosion over it. Also, I used to legitimately run Stonetusk Boar in the days of UT Hunter in Druid to trigger all their traps (this card seriously triggers everything hunter has) and combo them down with 9 mana left, or add 3 dmg to the combo (because they carefully play around 14 hp).
It is indeed a really useful card, but sort of as a general value deck. It doesn't have enough synergy with high level decks, and class specific 1-drops tend to be a lot better.
I had a lot of fun using it in a Floating WatcherGurubashi Berserker deck, but the thing is, this card is so Niche that a lot of decks don't really benefit from it. This card is situationally useful on turn 1/2, but mostly useful for comboing in mid-late game.
Seriously though?
I understand from the perspective of pure card advantage Argent Squire and Leper Gnome are usually the preferred one-drop. However I find the utility contained in Elven Archer to be unequaled at times. Its got the versatility of the mages hero power for only one mana... It can be used to activate Enrage on one of your cards, summon another Grim Patron, draw a card with Acolyte of Pain, it can activate certain traps, or just inflict that last bit of damage to hatch your Nerubian Egg.
I really just like the card and feel that its never really talked about... What do you guys think?
Certainly is great to have in the right situation, unfortunately in a 30 card deck though, you just can't fit all of those niche cards that you want. There are a ton of cards like elven archer that I would love to play in some of my decks, I just can't make justifiable room.
Useful in a Gahz'rilla OTK Hunter deck, but otherwise it just isn't powerful enough to justify a deck slot.
Nope.
Elven Archer is just not quite good enough for constructed play. When you're building your deck and considering putting in 1 drops, you have to put in the 1 drops that's going to net you the absolute maximum value. There's class card 1 drops that are just insane, such as Northshire Cleric, Mana Wyrm, Webspinner etc. Then there's the neutral 1 drops that are generally considered better, like the Argent Squire you mentioned and Zombie Chow. When compared to these 1 drops, Elven Archer's 1 damage utility just seems to fall a bit short.
In arena though, Elven Archer can actually be a quality pick and fulfills all those roles you mentioned in your original post. So, even though the card doesn't see much play in high end constructed, she certainly has her place in the game as a whole and is by no means a bad card.
There are many cards that seem like they should be in a lot of decks when you talk about their best-case scenarios. But think about a different case, where you are in top deck wars and you draw an Elven Archer against even a mid-range card like Piloted Shredder. The problem with Elven Archer isn't that it's inefficient.... it's that it is too individually weak.
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It's to weak against other one drops and loses most of its effectiveness after the second turn.
Angry Chicken
shes actually a decent card.
its just the creatures shes pitted against are more than she can take out.
The only deck i'd consider running her in is Gahzrilla OTK hunter and a Paladin Hobgoblin deck (with Repentance) but i havent been able to make those decks consistently work yet. Like someone else said already, she is too individually weak.
I think the biggest problem with Elven Archer is that it's often not very good on turn 1. Rarely do you want to just throw it down on an empty board, so it only really comes in handy at the start of the game as a response to your opponent's 1-health 1-drop. Compared to something like Leper Gnome in an aggro deck, comes out on 1 and often deals 4 damage - or an Argent Squire, comes out on 1, sticks to the board, gets buffed and trades up. For a 1 drop to be worthy of a card slot, it needs to be useful in almost any situation on turn 1 - or have a particularly strong synergy with your deck like Northshire Cleric.
Not worth a slot valuewise.
I don't like Lepar Gnome either... only in hyper aggro like face hunter or zoo.
Let's say its one of the better cards that isn't worth a slot?
Nightblade Argent Lance Flame Imp
Argent Watchman Argent Squire Frost Giant
Aviana Hogger Snipe Sea Giant
It can definitely be useful in token-heavy meta's or in certain classes, but usually i'd take Mortal Coil or Arcane Explosion over it. Also, I used to legitimately run Stonetusk Boar in the days of UT Hunter in Druid to trigger all their traps (this card seriously triggers everything hunter has) and combo them down with 9 mana left, or add 3 dmg to the combo (because they carefully play around 14 hp).
It is indeed a really useful card, but sort of as a general value deck. It doesn't have enough synergy with high level decks, and class specific 1-drops tend to be a lot better.
I had a lot of fun using it in a Floating Watcher Gurubashi Berserker deck, but the thing is, this card is so Niche that a lot of decks don't really benefit from it. This card is situationally useful on turn 1/2, but mostly useful for comboing in mid-late game.
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