Arch-Thief Rafaam
Card Text
Battlecry: Discover a powerful Artifact.
Flavor Text
He's very good at retrieving artifacts. From other people's museums.
Card Sounds
Additional Information
Name | Type | Class | Cost | Attack | Health |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Voidwalker | Minion | Warlock | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Flesheating Ghoul | Minion | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
Earthen Ring Farseer | Minion | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
The Black Knight | Minion | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
Bloodmage Thalnos | Minion | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
Stranglethorn Tiger | Minion | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
Defender of Argus | Minion | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
Abomination | Minion | 5 | 4 | 4 | |
Flame Imp | Minion | Warlock | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Raging Worgen | Minion | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
King Krush | Minion | Hunter | 9 | 8 | 8 |
Cenarius | Minion | Druid | 8 | 5 | 8 |
Sorcerer's Apprentice | Minion | Mage | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Xavius | Minion | 6 | 7 | 5 | |
Wild Pyromancer | Minion | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
Doomsayer | Minion | 2 | 0 | 7 | |
Flame Imp | Minion | Warlock | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Flesheating Ghoul | Minion | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
Ice Lance | Ability | Mage | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Cold Blood | Ability | Rogue | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Battle Rage | Ability | Warrior | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Bestial Wrath | Ability | Hunter | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Shadowform | Ability | Priest | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Lord Jaraxxus | Playable Hero | Warlock | 8 | 0 | 30 |
Rocker Rokara | Hero | Warrior | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Frostwolf Thrall | Hero | Shaman | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Barrens Bru'kan | Hero | Shaman | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Dungeoneer Bru'kan | Hero | Shaman | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Venerable Bru'kan | Hero | Shaman | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Malfurion Stormrage | Hero | Druid | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Shan'do Malfurion | Hero | Druid | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Emerald Malfurion | Hero | Druid | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Gul'dan | Hero | Warlock | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Shadow Gul'dan | Hero | Warlock | 0 | 0 | 30 |
N'Zoth | Hero | Warlock | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Shadowmoon Gul'dan | Hero | Warlock | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Saraad | Hero | Mage | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Illidan Stormrage | Hero | Demon Hunter | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Demonic Illidan | Hero | Demon Hunter | 0 | 0 | 30 |
Skullbearer Illidan | Hero | Demon Hunter | 0 | 0 | 30 |
My most recent opponent brought in the arch-thief. Let's just say no minions where allowed on his board for the rest of the game.
Yea. I unlocked him a couple days ago and tried him in my Midrange Hunter. Since sometimes even Dr. Boom is so slow, Rafaam was not amazing as I expected to be. But it allowed me to win some games against Priests. Those guys was Entombing my Savannah Highmanes. Lightbombing my Dr. Boom. Putting Rafaam gave them a Shadow Word: Death target aswell. But after using all of these removal they run out of removal for Lantern of Power. So it more than likely to stick and usually wins the game.
With boom gone, and bgh possibly getting nerfed on top of that, I can see this card being top tier in slower decks. Compared to Ysera (a card he is closest in function to) he is easier to remove but lantern is just so immediately threatening if you leave anything on the board after he appears. Hope you either have complete control of the board of have 2 hard removals ready.
That card will be a better alternative to Ysera if BGH gets the nerf, I agree. Else most decks will have to forget about 7 attack minions assuming we don't get a Boom 2.0
Ok replacement for Ysera
This card is actually better than Ysera in non-dragon theme decks. Because the discover mechanism allow you to pick what you need in the situation, while the card Ysera give you is random
Surely could work in a Renocombo rogue !
Lantern of Power would be nasty with Anubarak.
Having a lot of fun with this Thief!
This card is op for shaman. I play him. They need to remove him and any other minions. So after if he's not removed. I flood the board. Forcing mass remove and a weaken board state. Then I play fill th
e board with 3/3. I usually have bloodless and it's game over. 7×3= 21 but 7×6=42. Min minions to be lethal is 4-5.
Powerful Artifacts:
This card is really awesome, but sometimes i wonder if the artifacts are really all that...
+10/10 is used the least for me because almost all classes can wipe it out in 2 seconds with a WAY cheaper card.
10 damage seems really weak without spell damage... I mean Avenging Wrath is fine for me, and who doesn't spell damage Arcane Missiles nowadays?
Usually I go for the Mummy Zombie (except around Mages, Warlocks and the occasional Mill Rogue of course) since it seems like the strongest artifact (reminds me of Anyfin Can Happen which is by far my favorite card from the expansion), but even then Rafaam seems lack-luster (although still EXTREMELY useful) because everything else in the game is insanely OP.
The main issue basically is that you can only go so far with what cards can do, because the cap is always gonna be at 10 mana (yes i know Molten Giants and etc. but its only because of how it works, you can play them for a much cheaper price depending on a situation.)
Maybe I was expecting more from this card but for right now it seems only like a "Yeah, i guess this helps" kind of card.
I don't think they are supposed to be 10 mana level amazing, but the draw a card/add a card to your deck essence they add adds to the cost perhaps. it doesn't feel like a card you play on turn 10, rather something you play in the way late game in control vs control perhaps..?
Probably, but remember that you'd be sacrificing a turn to use a card that might not be strong enough to change the battle if you choose incorrectly. Ill admit it's very useful if you can assess the situation correctly but still...
Awesome card it is just what the game needed, a end game legendary that gives you a lot of burn to finish the game within a few turns, I run it in my dragon priest which has a lot of minions with low dmg and high health, any midrange deck in fact needed a card like this to provide them with a way to finish if they have teched there early cards to handle the flood of aggro, a lot of people put this vs ysera, its tough to say which one is better I would say however both of them are great :D
Proof?
I've been playing around with Arch Thief Rafaam and while I like the value he adds late into the game, I have found that he's just too slow most of the time. I've since replaced him with Elise Starseeker which you can play as a 3/5 for 4 mana, and the only loss in tempo would come from the 2 mana map which ends up cycling. The Golden Monkey is a 4 mana 6/6 taunt and you get to choose when/if you play it. I may come back to test more decks with Rafaam in it in the future.
why not both
Actually it shows up random on their screen, on yours it's the same order, on their screen, the selection isn't correct.
I've been trying Rafaam in every deck that I wanted an expensive high-impact minion, and with the possible exception of dragon decks he makes Ysera nearly obsolete (for my decks). Her main drawback was always that she was slow & a candidate for instant removal (or Shrink-Caballed), while you don't have to worry about that with Rafaam since he works instantly & with no RNG in the outcome.
Any expensive high-mana legendary that doesn't work immediately is basically a sitting duck, but with Rafaam I don't have to worry since even if he's instantly removed, I have already decided on the best course of action for the next turn & I'm ready to play it. Excellent card for the 9 mana spot, especially in control decks or basically any deck that needs a strong finishing move. Even one minion expected on board? Choose +10/+10. Board wipe expected? 3/3 zombies. Super control defensive move while getting a bit of face as well, or pure Pyroblast? Choose 10 damage.