Today, we are going to take a look at Ragnaros the Firelord. For those of you who never played World of Warcraft, Ragnaros was the final boss in the Molten Core and Firelands raid. In the days of vanilla World of Warcraft, Ragnaros was a great challenge for all players as he was the start of the Tier 2 armor grind. Just getting to him required a great amount of fire resistance which was a task all on its own. In Hearthstone, Blizzard made sure to make him a significant minion worthy of his status in the annals of World of Warcraft lore. With a solid 8 attack and 8 life, dealing with Ragnaros the Firelord is a rather challenging endeavor for all players. Now add into the mix that he deals 8 damage randomly to an enemy character provides a great finisher to any class, this more than makes up for its lack of an actual attack. Even if your opponent tries to silence this ability, they still have an 8/8 minion to deal with who will attack when it becomes your turn again.
In the early days of the beta, everyone wanted Ragnaros for their deck. Every major name streamer was advocating for this card. You could not hear enough good things about this card. We saw a lot of this guy in every deck. Then came the rise of the Priest, Priests did a great amount to manipulate the meta. Players started to look at minions with 4 attack as a safety zone. Not to mention Mind Control before the nerf made ol' Rag a one trick pony that would then be used against its original owner. Since the nerf however, we have seen him come back like gang busters in the meta. Classes that traditionally didn’t run him before are now putting them in their decks. Even aggro decks have been seeing an increase in the use of Ragnaros. His ability gives every class one hell of a finisher.
Counters:
No matter how you look at it, Ragnaros the Firelord will always do his damage the moment the turn ends. This makes preventing his arrival a trick or two. Ragnaros is best played when you have board advantage. It is because of this that players should always try to establish and dominate in board control. If you can maintain board control, playing a Ragnaros can be a risky move for your opponent as you can ignore him and keep stacking minions until a removal becomes optional. The down side of this is you will most likely be facing someone who knows this and will try to ensure you do not have board advantage, so you may need a little bit more to ensure you only suffer once from it.
Hunter: Hunters have several tools that can handle cards such as Ragnaros the Firelord. Hunter's Mark is an often overlooked card in the Hunter’s arsenal, but when combined with either Arcane Shot or played after a Wild Pyromancer can make Ragnaros a puff of smoke. It should also be mentioned that Deadly Shot can also do this job, however its RNG nature makes this a less viable option.
Mage: Mage's arsenals of spells can deal with Ragnaros. This is nowhere near Ideal however as you will want to use those spells to finish off your opponent. Polymorph, on the other hand is a 4 mana drop that can be followed up with a Fireblast or allow for an additional 4 mana drop to gain board advantage. It should be noted that Mages also have the Ice Barrier they can play on turn 7 to help mitigate the possible damage of a turn 8 Ragnaros the Firelord play.
Druid: Sadly, Druid's options against Ragnaros are very limited. Naturalize gives a cheap option to dealing with Ragnaros the Firelord, but at the cost of giving your opponent a card advantage. Many really seem to not care for this card because of its down side, but when used in this manner, it allows for other cards to be played to either counter the effects of Ragnaros coming on the board, such as Healing Touch, while leaving enough mana to cast a Druid of the Claw and either go on the offensive or defensive thus not losing any tempo of game play whatsoever.
Warrior: Warriors have several options when trying to deal with Ragnaros. The simplest of which is the use of Execute, when combined with cards such as Inner Rage and Cruel Taskmaster can destroy Ragnaros the Firelord and leave enough mana left over to mitigate the damage with armor using Shield Block, while still having enough mana to Armor Up!
Warlock: Like most classes, Warlocks have a hard removal in the form of Siphon Soul, which also allows you to regain 3 life, thus mitigating some of the damage caused by Ragnaros the Firelord. A more advanced option is to play Sylvanas Windrunner and then play a Void Terror next to her or a Power Overwhelming on her. This option is really only optimal if Ragnaros is alone on the board. If he isn’t, you run the ever persistent risk of RNG going the other way on you and having Ragnaros remain.
Shaman: Really only one option here. Hex is very similar to the Mage's Polymorph. The main advantage is simply that the lower cost allows a greater flexibility of a follow up plays such as Earth Elemental. Since Shamans have no ability to restore life, having the ability to stop incoming minion attacks after a Ragnaros the Firelord is essential.
Priest: With no chance of using Mind Control until at least turn 10 in most cases, Priests are forced to rely on neutral minion options or the use of Shadow Word: Death. Using Shadow Word: Death does allow you a broader range of possibilities with its three mana cost to mitigate with a heal spell and possibly summon some minions to try and regain tempo.
Rogue: Sadly, Rogues are kind of left holding the bag in terms of how to deal with Ragnaros the Firelord. Cards such as Sap and Vanish are really not a great idea as your opponent will just replay Ragnaros and thus recieve a second proc of his ability for a total of 16 damage. The only true option a Rogue has it to either be able to finish him off that turn or use Assassinate. The high mana cost of this spell makes follow up plays less likely but not impossible. Rogues are encouraged to maintain tempo and board control through the game, as this practice will dramatically reduce Ragnaros's efficiency for your opponent.
Paladin: Paladins really got the short end of the stick in terms of hard minion removals. They were, however, gifted with one of the strongest anti minion spells. Equality gives every Paladin the ability to either deal with a super nasty single target like Ragnaros, or be able to deal with a swarm of minions such as Murlocs. In terms of Ragnaros, the use of Equality and minions such as Wild Pyromancer or Elven Archer can clear him out of the way while leaving enough space for a heal and perhaps a minion or Reinforce.
Neutral: There are a few options available to deal with Ragnaros the Firelord that every class can have access to. Big Game Hunter is the obvious choice and has seen a remarkable rise in use in the current meta. Big Game Hunter being used in conjunction with Faceless Manipulator can give rise to an incredible shift in tempo. The last counter option we shall cover is Tinkmaster Overspark. Much like Polymorph and Hex, Tinkmaster Overpark turns Ragnaros into less of a threat and allows for other possible follow ups.
In conclusion, I feel as though every class can use Ragnaros the Firelord as a finisher, which in turn can really beef up your chances at winning. It is, however, not without a counter. When playing it you must play smart and ensure that you are keeping board control. Do you need this card? With the nerf to Mind Control, Ragnaros has gained a massive sense of security and thus finds himself in a higher state of use thus making not having one a huge disadvantage. Even if the meta shifts to another style of play, Ragnaros will still persist because if a player does not have an answer for it, right away they will have a higher chance of losing then being able to recover and win. In my opinion, this card should be on everyone's top five legendary cards to craft if they do not already have it.
Today, we are going to take a look at Ragnaros the Firelord. For those of you who never played World of Warcraft, Ragnaros was the final boss in the Molten Core and Firelands raid. In the days of vanilla World of Warcraft, Ragnaros was a great challenge for all players as he was the start of the Tier 2 armor grind. Just getting to him required a great amount of fire resistance which was a task all on its own. In Hearthstone, Blizzard made sure to make him a significant minion worthy of his status in the annals of World of Warcraft lore. With a solid 8 attack and 8 life, dealing with Ragnaros the Firelord is a rather challenging endeavor for all players. Now add into the mix that he deals 8 damage randomly to an enemy character provides a great finisher to any class, this more than makes up for its lack of an actual attack. Even if your opponent tries to silence this ability, they still have an 8/8 minion to deal with who will attack when it becomes your turn again.
In the early days of the beta, everyone wanted Ragnaros for their deck. Every major name streamer was advocating for this card. You could not hear enough good things about this card. We saw a lot of this guy in every deck. Then came the rise of the Priest, Priests did a great amount to manipulate the meta. Players started to look at minions with 4 attack as a safety zone. Not to mention Mind Control before the nerf made ol' Rag a one trick pony that would then be used against its original owner. Since the nerf however, we have seen him come back like gang busters in the meta. Classes that traditionally didn’t run him before are now putting them in their decks. Even aggro decks have been seeing an increase in the use of Ragnaros. His ability gives every class one hell of a finisher.
Counters:
No matter how you look at it, Ragnaros the Firelord will always do his damage the moment the turn ends. This makes preventing his arrival a trick or two. Ragnaros is best played when you have board advantage. It is because of this that players should always try to establish and dominate in board control. If you can maintain board control, playing a Ragnaros can be a risky move for your opponent as you can ignore him and keep stacking minions until a removal becomes optional. The down side of this is you will most likely be facing someone who knows this and will try to ensure you do not have board advantage, so you may need a little bit more to ensure you only suffer once from it.
Hunter: Hunters have several tools that can handle cards such as Ragnaros the Firelord. Hunter's Mark is an often overlooked card in the Hunter’s arsenal, but when combined with either Arcane Shot or played after a Wild Pyromancer can make Ragnaros a puff of smoke. It should also be mentioned that Deadly Shot can also do this job, however its RNG nature makes this a less viable option.
Mage: Mage's arsenals of spells can deal with Ragnaros. This is nowhere near Ideal however as you will want to use those spells to finish off your opponent. Polymorph, on the other hand is a 4 mana drop that can be followed up with a Fireblast or allow for an additional 4 mana drop to gain board advantage. It should be noted that Mages also have the Ice Barrier they can play on turn 7 to help mitigate the possible damage of a turn 8 Ragnaros the Firelord play.
Druid: Sadly, Druid's options against Ragnaros are very limited. Naturalize gives a cheap option to dealing with Ragnaros the Firelord, but at the cost of giving your opponent a card advantage. Many really seem to not care for this card because of its down side, but when used in this manner, it allows for other cards to be played to either counter the effects of Ragnaros coming on the board, such as Healing Touch, while leaving enough mana to cast a Druid of the Claw and either go on the offensive or defensive thus not losing any tempo of game play whatsoever.
Warrior: Warriors have several options when trying to deal with Ragnaros. The simplest of which is the use of Execute, when combined with cards such as Inner Rage and Cruel Taskmaster can destroy Ragnaros the Firelord and leave enough mana left over to mitigate the damage with armor using Shield Block, while still having enough mana to Armor Up!
Warlock: Like most classes, Warlocks have a hard removal in the form of Siphon Soul, which also allows you to regain 3 life, thus mitigating some of the damage caused by Ragnaros the Firelord. A more advanced option is to play Sylvanas Windrunner and then play a Void Terror next to her or a Power Overwhelming on her. This option is really only optimal if Ragnaros is alone on the board. If he isn’t, you run the ever persistent risk of RNG going the other way on you and having Ragnaros remain.
Shaman: Really only one option here. Hex is very similar to the Mage's Polymorph. The main advantage is simply that the lower cost allows a greater flexibility of a follow up plays such as Earth Elemental. Since Shamans have no ability to restore life, having the ability to stop incoming minion attacks after a Ragnaros the Firelord is essential.
Priest: With no chance of using Mind Control until at least turn 10 in most cases, Priests are forced to rely on neutral minion options or the use of Shadow Word: Death. Using Shadow Word: Death does allow you a broader range of possibilities with its three mana cost to mitigate with a heal spell and possibly summon some minions to try and regain tempo.
Rogue: Sadly, Rogues are kind of left holding the bag in terms of how to deal with Ragnaros the Firelord. Cards such as Sap and Vanish are really not a great idea as your opponent will just replay Ragnaros and thus recieve a second proc of his ability for a total of 16 damage. The only true option a Rogue has it to either be able to finish him off that turn or use Assassinate. The high mana cost of this spell makes follow up plays less likely but not impossible. Rogues are encouraged to maintain tempo and board control through the game, as this practice will dramatically reduce Ragnaros's efficiency for your opponent.
Paladin: Paladins really got the short end of the stick in terms of hard minion removals. They were, however, gifted with one of the strongest anti minion spells. Equality gives every Paladin the ability to either deal with a super nasty single target like Ragnaros, or be able to deal with a swarm of minions such as Murlocs. In terms of Ragnaros, the use of Equality and minions such as Wild Pyromancer or Elven Archer can clear him out of the way while leaving enough space for a heal and perhaps a minion or Reinforce.
Neutral: There are a few options available to deal with Ragnaros the Firelord that every class can have access to. Big Game Hunter is the obvious choice and has seen a remarkable rise in use in the current meta. Big Game Hunter being used in conjunction with Faceless Manipulator can give rise to an incredible shift in tempo. The last counter option we shall cover is Tinkmaster Overspark. Much like Polymorph and Hex, Tinkmaster Overpark turns Ragnaros into less of a threat and allows for other possible follow ups.
In conclusion, I feel as though every class can use Ragnaros the Firelord as a finisher, which in turn can really beef up your chances at winning. It is, however, not without a counter. When playing it you must play smart and ensure that you are keeping board control. Do you need this card? With the nerf to Mind Control, Ragnaros has gained a massive sense of security and thus finds himself in a higher state of use thus making not having one a huge disadvantage. Even if the meta shifts to another style of play, Ragnaros will still persist because if a player does not have an answer for it, right away they will have a higher chance of losing then being able to recover and win. In my opinion, this card should be on everyone's top five legendary cards to craft if they do not already have it.
-TheChiv
Great article. I crafted a Rag and one day later I unpacked a Rag.
One way to counter Rag is to play a sylvanas. Sometimes it works. Well, sometimes not.
Mind Control and rofl.