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Divine Shield pally was hardly a thing, ever.
Problem is that it is a combo deck, without so many combinations. Basically, it is inconsistent.
Now, this Bolvar profits on Divine Shield, but it does not improve consistency.
Unless this expansion provides more synergy to generate efficient divine shield, Fireblood will be as bad as Fordragon.
Divine Shield Pally was actually considered cancer back in Old Gods. (A sample decklist: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/511946-divine-aggro-84-wr-to-legend)
But I agree that we'll have to see if Blizzard provides enough Divine Shield support this expansion to bring back the archetype.
I so want to see his golden version! Art is so cool!
Why is this card bad
1- Slow, you play it and does nothing until the next turn
2- No board impact, for a legendary without board impact is bad these days
3- Rely completely on you having a board with Divine Shield so it has a decent stats, best is 5 mana 7/7
4- Blood Knight is better since it is cheaper, and for the same amount of Divine Shield minions it gets way bigger, and with Argent Protector you can make a 9/9 or 12/12 with Divine Shield for the same Mana cost
5- it is worse than all other Paladin Legendaries in meta right now
it is a shame though, the Art Design of the card is amazing
Refutation, in number order:
1- Slow, you play it and does nothing until the next turn
1- You're not wrong, but summoning fatigue alone doesn't make a card bad. Not every card needs Charge, Taunt, or a Battlecry to be useful.
2- No board impact, for a legendary without board impact is bad these days
2- Card rarity and board impact are, and have always been, unrelated.
3- Rely completely on you having a board with Divine Shield so it has a decent stats, best is 5 mana 7/7
3- Not true. Without a Divine Shield board, Bolvar is still a 3/7. After its Divine Shield is popped. There is no such thing as a bad card with vanilla stats, and with potential upside. Now, if that still fits your definition of "bad," fine, but you're setting a high bar. By the way, where are you getting "best is a 5 mana 7/7?"
4- Blood Knight is better since it is cheaper, and for the same amount of Divine Shield minions it gets way bigger, and with Argent Protector you can make a 9/9 or 12/12 with Divine Shield for the same Mana cost
4- Great. Why not run both Blood Knight and Bolvar, Fireblood? Play Bolvar onto a Divine Shield board, then pop your shields using Blood Knight. I see combo potential, not competition.
5- it is worse than all other Paladin Legendaries in meta right now
5- In other words, a newly released card is "bad" because it's worse than Tirion Fordring. High bar.
I'm not saying this card will be Tier 1. I'm not saying it will be playable. But it's not bad. There are better, more sound reasons for criticizing Bolvar (I highly doubt it will singlehandedly resurrect Divine Shield Paladin, for instance).
I agree with you on the art. It's great art. Can't logic my way around the art.
Edit: Pardon the edits. Formatting is hard.
so you think it is ok to spend your dust on crafting a Legendary with 3/7 stats, yeah the Divine Shield is sweet for 1 trade, but comparing it to similar 5 drops in the game ( Validated Doomsayer , Venture Co. Mercenary , Red Mana Wyrm , Nesting Roc , Fen Creeper , Avian Watcher , Bittertide Hydra , Alley Armorsmith , Tar Lurker , Earth Elemental , Druid of the Claw ) they do something when they are played or allows you to be aggressive immediately, but you play Bolvar, Fireblood, it sits on the board as a 1/7 Divine Shield, it doesn't protect you or threat the board, then you have to start trading your Divine Shield minions to maybe make it a 7/7
not worth the dust craft, a Nesting Roc with taunt is way better since it protects you and trades better the moment it is played
Legendary minions should impactful
I never said craft this card. Unless Divine Shield Paladin receives enough support tools this expansion to become a viable archetype, you shouldn't. I'm more interested your reasoning.
Half of those cards are Taunt minions, and are an unfair comparison. (Besides, half of those Taunt minions aren't run in Constructed.) The other four (Validated Doomsayer, Venture Co. Mercenary, Red Mana Wyrm, Bittertide Hydra) also do nothing the turn they're played; they're just stats, like Bolvar. By that logic, Validated Doomsayer is an inferior Bolvar, which sits on the board as a 0/7 without Divine Shield.
None of those cards have deckbuilding potential (save possibly Red Mana Wyrm). There's no point in evaluating Bolvar in a vacuum. It's not just vanilla stats. Not sure when you started playing Hearthstone, but Divine Shield decks were powerful a year ago during Old Gods, and it's clear from the cards currently revealed that Blizzard intends to do more with the archetype in Frozen Throne. I'm not saying craft; I'm saying wait to see whether Divine Shield becomes viable, and expect to see at least some Fireblood play if they do.
"Legendary minions should impactful" That's not an argument. That's something you want and has nothing to do with a card's viability. Paladin doesn't need another Tirion or Sunkeeper.
Eh, seems fun but I don't know if it's going to be any good.
Im gonna call that there is going to be a super awesome divine shield paladin deck and this card is one of the cores of it
Does anyone know if this effect triggers when the card is in your deck?
Only triggers while on the field.
Calling it, Deathknight Paladin will be give all your minions Divine Shield
Eh, i'd be happy if I got this card but I wouldn't actively seek it out. The art design is cool though, he looks like Brand from League of Legends.
Definitely going to enchant a golden one just for sake of awesome artwork, I love it. Pretty interesting card, hope it'd work.
Fireblood ...
This is what happens when you get fried by a red dragon's flame
Given that Divine Shield Paladin used to be somewhat (good) cancer before Patches The Pirate kicked in, this card may be a push for for it to comeback in the future. We have yet to see other synergies around Divine Shield in the set, it's still hard to say this is a bad card.
We have Nesting Roc which is a great card with a 5 mana 4/7 with a Beast tag and a potential to get Taunt. At the very least this card is a 5 mana 1/7 divine shield then become a 3/7 and can block damage 1 times - not that bad but not that good either.
literally worse than the other bolvar lol.
Get rekt retardins LUL
Bolvar, Fireblood triggers himself.
I'm surprised more people don't realize this. Pop its Divine Shield and it's a 5 Mana 3/7. He's well-statted, even without any additional Divine Shield synergy.
Don't forget that this card can snowball. Divine Shield decks aren't a myth. Back in Old Gods, Divine Shield Paladin was cancer, and I played my share of it (because I was a scumbag). It's surprising how long a card like Steward of Darkshire sticks to the board. Having 6 Divine Shield minions in play at one time was not unrealistic. (That's 12 extra Attack to Bolvar already.)
There's no reason to judge this card for resembling Bolvar Fordragon from GVG. The reason GVG Bolvar was unplayable was that, to have vanilla stats (which Fireblood already has), he demanded a spot in your early-game hand. A plain 5 Mana 1/7 Bolvar Fordragon was an awful topdeck.
Fireblood is not an awful topdeck. He does not force you to compromise an strong early curve to be viable. Draw him Turn 5 and he still presents a sizable body which demands an answer, lest he snowball. That early curve is important. Because any Divine Shield deck which values board control (read: every Divine Shield deck) needs a strong early curve.
To the 13% who said "Dust it," I completely understand. You have no interest in playing Divine Shield Paladin. You have no interest in being a scumbag. And that's respectable. But I see little point in looking at a vanilla minion with pure situational upside and saying, "It's bad." It's not bad. A class that runs Tirion Fordring and Ragnaros, Lightlord doesn't desperately need a game-breaking Legendary. Don't expect this card to be the next Tirion. Expect it a welcome addition to an already strong roster of Paladin Legendary cards, with strong deckbuilding potential as icing on the cake.
Edit: It has been hours and I am tired of defending this card's viability. I want to see Bolvar experimented with. I really do. It has potential. If someone has some prescient wisdom as to why exactly they think this card will completely suck, I encourage you to reply below. But I'm not in the mood to discuss poor logic like "this card is worse than Tirion Fordring." (I just got done replying to someone who made a very similar argument. And if he happens to read this, which I hope he does, it's really nothing personal.)
Edit 2: Howling Commander just got announced. Blizzard is trying to bring back Divine Shield decks. At this point, all I can say is, wait for the rest of the set of be revealed.
Plus the best part about this card is it's art