We all know that the mechanics of Lord Jaraxxus inspired the failed Majordomo Executus; then the Death Knights; which in turns inspired regularly printing Hero cards. One of the most iconic Hearthstone cards, it's stated to be Ben Brode's favorite of them all.
Being the first one, Lord Jaraxxus works differently from any other Hero Mechanic; capping your Health at 15 (which could be even be thought of as a heal way back when) and having no powerful battecry other than equipping his 3/8 weapon; which while insanely durable doesn't make enough impact on the board for 9 mana. If we pair up the loss of maximum health in a meta that is littered by Combo or aggressive decks and the insane powerlevel of Bloodreaver Gul'dan, it's no wonder Lord Jaraxxus has fallen out of flavor.
What if instead of a regular Demon, Lord Jaraxxus was a hero, though? How powerful would he be?
This would mean he would cease being a Demon which would change his interactions with Skull of the Man'ari and Sacrificial Pact, he would come with an armor gain instead of a loss on health; and he would keep his blatantly overpowered Hero Power.
Would that be too OP, still; even if he doesn't do much the turn he's played?
We all know that the mechanics of Lord Jaraxxus inspired the failed Majordomo Executus; then the Death Knights; which in turns inspired regularly printing Hero cards. One of the most iconic Hearthstone cards, it's stated to be Ben Brode's favorite of them all.
Being the first one, Lord Jaraxxus works differently from any other Hero Mechanic; capping your Health at 15 (which could be even be thought of as a heal way back when) and having no powerful battecry other than equipping his 3/8 weapon; which while insanely durable doesn't make enough impact on the board for 9 mana. If we pair up the loss of maximum health in a meta that is littered by Combo or aggressive decks and the insane powerlevel of Bloodreaver Gul'dan, it's no wonder Lord Jaraxxus has fallen out of flavor.
What if instead of a regular Demon, Lord Jaraxxus was a hero, though? How powerful would he be?
This would mean he would cease being a Demon which would change his interactions with Skull of the Man'ari and Sacrificial Pact, he would come with an armor gain instead of a loss on health; and he would keep his blatantly overpowered Hero Power.
Would that be too OP, still; even if he doesn't do much the turn he's played?
9 manas, gain 5 armor, equip a 3/8 weapon and have a fantastic hero power, better and inconditional than Jaina is waaaaaaaaaaay OP.
I think that they should change interaction with Sacrifical Pact. By putting that dumb little card in your deck, you get a free win. Or even worse this new Rogue deck with Academy Espionage, Jaraxxus becomes useless. Everything else about Jaraxxus is fine as he is after all a classic card. He will probably be played alot again once Koft goes to wild.
I think he would be really strong, but since Bloodreaver Gul'Dan is so insane he might still not see much play. Summoning a board full of demons is waaay better than equipping a 3/8 weapon, and even though summoning 6/6's for 2 mana each turn is incredibly strong, dealing 3 damage to anything you want while also restoring 3 health is still a bit more flexible.
I have to say though, I wish some of the hero cards (mainly the insanely strong ones like Jaina and Gul'dan) were a little bit closer to the power level of Jaraxxus. The whole idea of Jaraxxus giving you very strong tools while also having a very serious downside is great and in my opinion that makes him one of if not the best designed card in the game.
The issue is not that Jaraxxus is weak, the issue is that 2 mana summon a 6/6 does not have much synergy; and that the warlock-hero is simply overpowered in comparsion to it.
But most of all: there are too many OTK-Decks aroung. 15 health is too eaily done by multiple classes compared to vanilla.
If jaraxxus became a hero card he would probably be to powerful even with his slow battlecry because the hero power out values anything other people can offer (I don't know a deck that could beat a 6/6 every turn in terms of value). However he would probably only be run in control warlocks that need to out value decks like big spell mage. Still I think he would be to powerful as a hero card because the hero power is so insanely powerful that it can only be balanced out by making it easy to kill you before you can use the hero power to many times.
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We all know that the mechanics of Lord Jaraxxus inspired the failed Majordomo Executus; then the Death Knights; which in turns inspired regularly printing Hero cards. One of the most iconic Hearthstone cards, it's stated to be Ben Brode's favorite of them all.
Being the first one, Lord Jaraxxus works differently from any other Hero Mechanic; capping your Health at 15 (which could be even be thought of as a heal way back when) and having no powerful battecry other than equipping his 3/8 weapon; which while insanely durable doesn't make enough impact on the board for 9 mana. If we pair up the loss of maximum health in a meta that is littered by Combo or aggressive decks and the insane powerlevel of Bloodreaver Gul'dan, it's no wonder Lord Jaraxxus has fallen out of flavor.
What if instead of a regular Demon, Lord Jaraxxus was a hero, though? How powerful would he be?
This would mean he would cease being a Demon which would change his interactions with Skull of the Man'ari and Sacrificial Pact, he would come with an armor gain instead of a loss on health; and he would keep his blatantly overpowered Hero Power.
Would that be too OP, still; even if he doesn't do much the turn he's played?
"it's stated to be Ben Brode's favorite of them all."
rip
9 manas, gain 5 armor, equip a 3/8 weapon and have a fantastic hero power, better and inconditional than Jaina is waaaaaaaaaaay OP.
The demons should be 3/3 at very minimum.
I think that they should change interaction with Sacrifical Pact. By putting that dumb little card in your deck, you get a free win. Or even worse this new Rogue deck with Academy Espionage, Jaraxxus becomes useless.
Everything else about Jaraxxus is fine as he is after all a classic card. He will probably be played alot again once Koft goes to wild.
I think he would be really strong, but since Bloodreaver Gul'Dan is so insane he might still not see much play. Summoning a board full of demons is waaay better than equipping a 3/8 weapon, and even though summoning 6/6's for 2 mana each turn is incredibly strong, dealing 3 damage to anything you want while also restoring 3 health is still a bit more flexible.
I have to say though, I wish some of the hero cards (mainly the insanely strong ones like Jaina and Gul'dan) were a little bit closer to the power level of Jaraxxus. The whole idea of Jaraxxus giving you very strong tools while also having a very serious downside is great and in my opinion that makes him one of if not the best designed card in the game.
I mean obviously if we remove the sometimes-downside and replace it with an always-upside then the card will be better.
And I think it would be stupidly strong if Lord Jaraxxus gave 5 armor instead of setting your HP and max HP to 15.
I would love that change :P I would also love if they went back and redesigned all armors for all heroes.
Bloodreaver Gul’Dan: 0 Armor
Frost Lich Jaina: 3 Armor
Scourgelord Garrosh: 6 Armor
The rest I would keep at 5 (and 7).
The issue is not that Jaraxxus is weak, the issue is that 2 mana summon a 6/6 does not have much synergy; and that the warlock-hero is simply overpowered in comparsion to it.
But most of all: there are too many OTK-Decks aroung. 15 health is too eaily done by multiple classes compared to vanilla.
If jaraxxus became a hero card he would probably be to powerful even with his slow battlecry because the hero power out values anything other people can offer (I don't know a deck that could beat a 6/6 every turn in terms of value). However he would probably only be run in control warlocks that need to out value decks like big spell mage. Still I think he would be to powerful as a hero card because the hero power is so insanely powerful that it can only be balanced out by making it easy to kill you before you can use the hero power to many times.