Onyxia
Card Text
Battlecry: Summon 1/1 Whelps until your side of the battlefield is full.
Flavor Text
Onyxia long manipulated the Stormwind Court by disguising herself as Lady Katrana Prestor. You would have thought that the giant wings and scales would have been a giveaway.
Card Sounds
Disenchanted as soon as I got her.Crafted an omega devastator with the dust.I have no regrets
Got her yesterday from a tavern brawl pack . I felt lucky :)
I can't wait to try her out .
I think it's good card.
Onychia means inflamed nails, take that as you will :>
Also, Violet Wurm seems to be a little better but the difference is extremely circumstantial.
Many whelps! Handle it!
Synergizes well with Raid Leader
WATCH THE F*CKING WHELPS
Sounds like Mr. Blobby
Onyxia+Rogue Quest=memes
I've never really understood why Onyxia is considered a bad card. It eats a board clear and a hard removal -> you just traded 1 for 2.
Not to mention...
Turn 10: This + Evolve
seems like a really powerful combo, but what if... WHAT IF... that one 2 cost minion you'll get from one of the whelps after evolving was the doomsayer? I guess the chance is low, but it's still a risk. still, she seems like a pretty good card to me
Usually I kill off my one drops before I evolve...doomsayer?
Well, hello there! Sorry for the delay, im still busy as duck. Another factor that slowed reviews down is that i've already reviewed mos good cards of the Expert set, so now there arent much leftovers to observe. Maybe i will not spend my time on trash tier cards, but Onyxia will be observed.
Firstly, her stats. The stats distribution mostly evaluates in how many Whelp she spawns. If you drop her on empty board, she spawns 6x 1/1s, being 8/8 herself. So, doing math, guys, it's 14/14 for 9 mana, in 7 bodies. If we count her battlecry as an alternative spells, let's remember Wisps of the Old Gods(Many Whisps) and Dark Wispers. They do particularly the same. so 7 Wisps are 7 mana, then 6x - 6 mana. Onyxia's effect is 1.5 mana(9 mana 9/10 as top tier stats -1/-2). So I state it's worthy enough for a legendary card.
So, how do I use her? Well, she is that kind of a legendary that can be used both by newcommers that got her from a pack and old players that just want to try different from meta things. For the first type she is just a sta-per-mana-efficent minion. Older players can use her in specially built decks to empower it. So, if we look on exact purpose that you can play this card for is some kind of zoo-midrange decks. One of great examples is Token Druid. They tended to run her in several variations. Druid has a lot of board-buffing cards like Power of the Wild, Big Wisps, Soul of the Forest, even Cenarius(pretty cool, if you somehow got both of them. pretty nice synergy, if any Whelps survive). Savage Roar, Direwolf alpha are also a thing.
A lot of people say she is non-meta, because everybody runs mass removals. Yep, it's true, and let's thank to you, guys, who played zoolocks, shamans, hunters, token druids, who just wnated to play on curve and win with board clears. You forced the meta to carry a lot of those. Even shamans, who mostly run only Lightning Storm, now bring Maelstrom Portal to have better chances against such decks. If meta was about removing big or single creatures, Nixy would be a very cool and popular card, as it is "one card army" for every class. What is more, if you use her in zoo or token decks, you will have a lot more measures to spam your board. Right, there are plenty of boardclears, but you might have even more ways to get your board back. And you may use Onyxia as another setup. She might burn another mass removal from your opponent, which means he will have one less way to deal with your board, and once he will come to the stange when none remained. And there you have a very big chance to win. Just remember not to vomit your entire hand on the board just to get greatlu punished by, let's say, Brawl.
So, in which deck would I recommend to try her? Warlock. Maybe more controllish-lategame zoo. Great thing if Knife Juggler or Darkshire Councilman survives. Shaman. Bloodlust, Flametongue Totem are a great thing for boardspam-shaman. Just a different deck, if you tired of midrange shamans(which you dont, as you only wan to win-win-win and get legend. Very fun and interactive, huh? You might ask, why would i try new decks that are not OP. You've got a point, but others may just be bored to play only onesided decks). Druid. Already told you that he can do. Whatever, any deck that you choose her to be included just gives you more board presence. It's up to you if your deck is generally oriented on it, or jsut plays different playstyles at one, like some midrange ones.
What is pore, she can find herself useful in dragon decks. They play mostly single minions, and this lady gives you a bit of zoo flavour. As a mindtrick, your opponent could may start clearing lil' dragons with his minions, as he can think that if you run this card, you do so for a purpose. Buffing, empowerinf attack, etc. So it may consume some of his damage, if he has no mass removals in hand. She also activates other dragon-requiring cards. But i would recommend you to run Netherspite Historian to pull her out them. Not always, but it might be another dragon that would be more useful in the exact situation than Nixy. Maybe Chillmaw, Ysera, Alexstrasza, Deathwing.
So, taking everything into account, answering two general questions, that most people ask: "Do I dust?" and "Do I craft?". The answer for first is simple: If you need dust for top-tier decks to be a bad boy and win every game with a meta deck - you may dust her to get precious dust. If you want to try zoowish-spamming decks, or own buffing cards i mentioned before, you may remain her. If you want to collect all the cards from exper set to always have cards for whatever decks,as I do, i would strongly recommend you to keep her. She has potential that one day might be used with great results. Now, about crafting. If you on your late stange, when you have spare dust, dont know what to craft, or want to complete expert, crafting her may be an option, if you own other top-tier and just very good legendaries. If you are a newcomer, i wouldnt recommend to craft her, as she requires some other cards to be used efficiently, and her primary effect is very eak against current meta board clears.
If you've enjoyed reading this review, follow me in my profile to stay tuned and check out my other observations(Links):
The Expert Set:
Neutral legendaries: Onyxia | Baron Geddon | Malygos | Deathwing | Bloodmage Thalnos | Cairne Bloodhoof | Leeroy Jenkins| Harrison Jones |Sylvanas | Ysera | Ragnaros | Alexstrasza | The Black Knight
Class ones: Al'Akir the Windlord | King Krush | Cenarius | Edwin VanCleef | Archmage Antonidas | Tirion Fordring | Jaraxxus | Prophet Velen[Remastered in 26.10.2016] |Grommash Hellscream
The Whispers of the Old Gods Set:
Neutral legendaries: N'Zoth | Soggoth
Other Sets:
| Kel'Thuzad | Arch-Thief Rafaam |
My forum thread(Link)
i read this article now. and felt your expertise. would you recommend any deck using her for fun in saviors of uldum meta?
i got golden one from watch and learn pack. thank you.
people say Onyxia is bad because its vulnerable to board clear.
But have you ever thought about the fact that if the opponent uses a board clear it has no value against you? essentially ur opponent wasted a board clear because the card you played to get all those minions was only one card.
if ur opponent consecrates as a paly then u are left with a 5 mana 8/6 minion which is super good
if ur opponent lightning storms as shaman then you're left with a 8/5 or 8/6 for 4 mana including overload
if ur opponent flamestrikes then ur left with a 8/4 for 2 mana
if ur opponent blizzards u get a frozen 8/6 for 3 mana which is not as good but still ok
if your opponent fans of knives you get a 8/7 for around 6.5 mana including value from drawing card which is still good
if ur opponent shadowflames it depends but most of the time its good for u
twisting nether- bad for you but acceptable
doom- good for you cuz of overdraw by the opponent leading to fatigue death
if ur opponent uses whirlwind type affects as warrior its not very good at all but still acceptable
if ur opponent brawls the odds are against you and ur screwed.
so Onyxia is good against every class except warrior
P.S. warlocks and rogues
Just got her from Tavern Brawl pack today, can't wait to try her out.
Got this card along with sea giant in the same pack, rng
Soooo... What the f happened that made this guy go from the unplayable tier to every pro player bringing at least one deck with Onyxia in it to every tournament?
I think it's cause the Meta got some control archetypes back- so Onyxia becomes somewhat more viable. I would wait until the next Meta snapshot is released before deciding to craft anything.
Bloodlust