There. I said it. Ragnaros is a terrible card. It feels so strange to say that after witnessing droves of excellent players both play Ragnaros and beat me with him, but I stand behind what I believe. I greatly regret crafting him as my first legendary, yet I find myself shoehorning him into most of the decks that I build because he is one of the few powerful cards I own.
Being powerful and being terrible are not opposites though. War Golem is a card that most players would agree is shoddy or lackluster at best, but it is undeniably powerful. A 7/7 is large enough to take down most minions in the game with a single attack or deliver a crippling blow to an opponent's life total, but the cost attached to his body makes him unattractive in comparison to other alternatives. Ragnaros feels the same way to me. He has the body of a giant and hits just as hard, but at his core he plays just like a King Krush that attacks a random target. Sure, he's immune while attacking and can occasionally reach past taunt minions, but at the very steep cost of having absolutely no control over where he will aim.
The ideal time to play Ragnaros is when there are no minions in play and the opposing player is at eight or less life, operating as eight mana or eight damage and winning the game outright. When the opponent has a greater life total or minions on his side of the table, this complicates things. The next best scenario to cast Ragnaros in is when there are only two targets for him to attack and one or both of those targets are valuable. If an opponent has a low life total but also controls a worthless minion, Ragnaros can win the game for you 50% of the time and is often the best play because there may be little risk involved in hitting the unimportant target. Alternatively, if the opponent has a high life total but also has a valuable minion in play such as their own Ragnaros, casting a Ragnaros can provide enormous momentum by removing the opposing minion and threatening to do so each subsequent turn. I find this situation to be the most realistic, as I often hold my own Ragnaros until I have no other reasonable plays and then gamble as to whether or not I destroy the opposing minion with him, cementing value into the turn I play him regardless of whether or not he lives to see my next turn. This type of play is also tends to be the most risky, as losing the coin flip and doming my opponent for eight damage often provides my opponent with the momentum necessary for him to take the game from my hands.
When Ragnaros is cast on an empty board and the opponent has a sizable life total, the eight damage he deals is usually never worth spending an entire turn to do. Provided the opposing player still has cards in his hand, Ragnaros is likely to meet his end at the hands of a Hex, Big Game Hunter, a Faceless Manipulator doing a Ragnaros impression, or another similar card. These cards all efficiently dispatch Ragnaros while costing significantly less mana, allowing that player to continue developing and regaining control of the board. On the off chance that the opponent does not have a reasonable answer to his Ragnaros problem, he is still unreliable. If I decide to remove each of my opponent's minions each turn with spells rather than advancing my board, Ragnaros functions identically to a Molten Giant. In the admittedly rarer event that it is permissible to advance my board, most any eight costing minion would be potent at laying waste to my enemy and Ragnaros' ability presents itself as an necessary risk.
Playing Ragnaros on a cluttered board is also unsavory. If the opponent has multiple minions in play, chances are that Ragnaros will shoot one of them, but if two or more are of low quality then more than half of possible targets Ragnaros will set fire to are undesirable. Furthermore, the more minions in play for Ragnaros to target, the less likely he is going to hit the most desirable target and the more likely the opponent has the surplus of minions necessary to remove him from the board provided that he wants to. I can't count the number of times that my only available play was to cast Ragnaros, only to have him burn down a Spectral Spider or remove the divine shield from an Argent Squire.
Seeing phenomenal players use Ragnaros makes me feel conflicted as I believe that these players have merit, but seldom has Ragnaros worked out for me. When the most realistic opportunity to play Ragnaros to great effect is also the most dangerous, I find that I lose as many games because of Ragnaros as I do because of him. I don't want my games to boil down to successfully flipping a coin in order to stabilize against an unfavorable board when I have the alternative of playing with other cards that allow me to do so without taking an immense risk.
Ragnaros brings instant value. Even if he hits face instead of a big minion, it's still 1/4th of enemy hero life, and the enemy STILL has to kill the 8/8 body. It always trades better than 1 for 1, and that's what makes it good.
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Come join me @ twitch.tv/Creeepling ! Only fun and unusual decks!
Ragnaros brings instant value. Even if he hits face instead of a big minion, it's still 1/4th of enemy hero life, and the enemy STILL has to kill the 8/8 body. It always trades better than 1 for 1, and that's what makes it good.
Exactly this, Especially in druid, getting one out after you ramp up, or even with an Innervate is an early threat many are just like well guess ill run all of my creatures into it or i am gonna lose anyways.
Although I did not craft Rag as my first legendary. I did Black Knight which is such a good card in his own ways. Rag is just a big dude that must be dealt with and if they do not within 2 or 3 turns they will be dead.
You just need to use him in the right moment, also like Creepling said it just brings instant value. I use him in my mage decks for example, there was only couple of games when I wasn't satisfied with value got from him.
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I believe Ragnaros the Firelord is an absolutely terrible card.
There. I said it. Ragnaros is a terrible card. It feels so strange to say that after witnessing droves of excellent players both play Ragnaros and beat me with him, but I stand behind what I believe. I greatly regret crafting him as my first legendary, yet I find myself shoehorning him into most of the decks that I build because he is one of the few powerful cards I own.
Being powerful and being terrible are not opposites though. War Golem is a card that most players would agree is shoddy or lackluster at best, but it is undeniably powerful. A 7/7 is large enough to take down most minions in the game with a single attack or deliver a crippling blow to an opponent's life total, but the cost attached to his body makes him unattractive in comparison to other alternatives. Ragnaros feels the same way to me. He has the body of a giant and hits just as hard, but at his core he plays just like a King Krush that attacks a random target. Sure, he's immune while attacking and can occasionally reach past taunt minions, but at the very steep cost of having absolutely no control over where he will aim.
The ideal time to play Ragnaros is when there are no minions in play and the opposing player is at eight or less life, operating as eight mana or eight damage and winning the game outright. When the opponent has a greater life total or minions on his side of the table, this complicates things. The next best scenario to cast Ragnaros in is when there are only two targets for him to attack and one or both of those targets are valuable. If an opponent has a low life total but also controls a worthless minion, Ragnaros can win the game for you 50% of the time and is often the best play because there may be little risk involved in hitting the unimportant target. Alternatively, if the opponent has a high life total but also has a valuable minion in play such as their own Ragnaros, casting a Ragnaros can provide enormous momentum by removing the opposing minion and threatening to do so each subsequent turn. I find this situation to be the most realistic, as I often hold my own Ragnaros until I have no other reasonable plays and then gamble as to whether or not I destroy the opposing minion with him, cementing value into the turn I play him regardless of whether or not he lives to see my next turn. This type of play is also tends to be the most risky, as losing the coin flip and doming my opponent for eight damage often provides my opponent with the momentum necessary for him to take the game from my hands.
When Ragnaros is cast on an empty board and the opponent has a sizable life total, the eight damage he deals is usually never worth spending an entire turn to do. Provided the opposing player still has cards in his hand, Ragnaros is likely to meet his end at the hands of a Hex, Big Game Hunter, a Faceless Manipulator doing a Ragnaros impression, or another similar card. These cards all efficiently dispatch Ragnaros while costing significantly less mana, allowing that player to continue developing and regaining control of the board. On the off chance that the opponent does not have a reasonable answer to his Ragnaros problem, he is still unreliable. If I decide to remove each of my opponent's minions each turn with spells rather than advancing my board, Ragnaros functions identically to a Molten Giant. In the admittedly rarer event that it is permissible to advance my board, most any eight costing minion would be potent at laying waste to my enemy and Ragnaros' ability presents itself as an necessary risk.
Playing Ragnaros on a cluttered board is also unsavory. If the opponent has multiple minions in play, chances are that Ragnaros will shoot one of them, but if two or more are of low quality then more than half of possible targets Ragnaros will set fire to are undesirable. Furthermore, the more minions in play for Ragnaros to target, the less likely he is going to hit the most desirable target and the more likely the opponent has the surplus of minions necessary to remove him from the board provided that he wants to. I can't count the number of times that my only available play was to cast Ragnaros, only to have him burn down a Spectral Spider or remove the divine shield from an Argent Squire.
Seeing phenomenal players use Ragnaros makes me feel conflicted as I believe that these players have merit, but seldom has Ragnaros worked out for me. When the most realistic opportunity to play Ragnaros to great effect is also the most dangerous, I find that I lose as many games because of Ragnaros as I do because of him. I don't want my games to boil down to successfully flipping a coin in order to stabilize against an unfavorable board when I have the alternative of playing with other cards that allow me to do so without taking an immense risk.
Ragnaros brings instant value. Even if he hits face instead of a big minion, it's still 1/4th of enemy hero life, and the enemy STILL has to kill the 8/8 body. It always trades better than 1 for 1, and that's what makes it good.
Come join me @ twitch.tv/Creeepling ! Only fun and unusual decks!
Exactly this, Especially in druid, getting one out after you ramp up, or even with an Innervate is an early threat many are just like well guess ill run all of my creatures into it or i am gonna lose anyways.
Although I did not craft Rag as my first legendary. I did Black Knight which is such a good card in his own ways. Rag is just a big dude that must be dealt with and if they do not within 2 or 3 turns they will be dead.
Wumbo Jenkins
You just need to use him in the right moment, also like Creepling said it just brings instant value. I use him in my mage decks for example, there was only couple of games when I wasn't satisfied with value got from him.
"Dark Lady watch over you."