While LK has a better cost, his Taunt and bad stat distribution makes him a bad choice a lot of the time because while it does help stall a bit, it doesnt help sustain a control situation where youd want to generate more than 1 card.
Id even go on to say that if you want a LK card so bad then just use Arfus, but his stats are so much worse than what they should be and cant recommend him either lol.
Basically what im saying, is if you really want value from him, youd be better off just recieving him from Stonehill defender... and I predict thats exactly what will happen once the meta settles.
LK is just better than ysera again aggro(at the very least, it is an ironbark protector with an upside). That alone makes it a better card than ysera, which is something you would never want to run in an aggro meta.
I played vs him a couple of times, and I never scared me, nor got to see any of his cards... He is often just a vanilla 8-8, which can be dealt with pretty handily. The big downside is that his cards are often pretty useless for the situation, and he is too easily removed for a "grinder" kind of card.
In arena he can be the difference between winning and losing. I had a few games in which the opponent discovered it and while I was ahead on board I lost just because of him. Then in another run in which I discovered and summoned him through Free From Amber and I was behind he won me the game. The Death Knight card Death and Decay that makes 3 damage to all enemy minions is totally busted. Ysera's Ysera Awakens may come at the cost of 2 mana but it damages your own minions as well and your own character so there is some downside to using it. There is no downside to Death and Decay and you can choose to cast it whenever you want to...
a) Play elementals, a certain type of cards that aren't always the most optimal in every deck, a harder condition for activating any of his effects
b) Make proactive plays and sometimes have clunky turns before you summon him just to have one of his effects activated on the next turn
c) Mandatory activate any of his effects the turn he is played,as opposed to any of the death knight cards where you can choose when they are more optimal to use. You set up a turn for Kalimos, Primal Lord but you want to have a different play and try summon him next turn? Well sucks to be you, if you have ran out of elementals because next turn you can't activate any of his effects.
Nah, I think the Lich King is better for the majority of classes. Coming out on turn 8 with taunt is much faster than turn 9 do nothing. That said, ysera is better if you are playing against priest or need dragon synergy.
Lich king is faster. He costs 1 less, has taunt so it can't be ignored, generates cards such as death coil or frostmourne which are actually much better at ending the game then the dream cards, the 8/8 body is actually better aggressively than the 4/12 and wins the game much quicker than ysera does if it is not dealt with quickly.
Trust me coming out a turn earlier and having taunt really makes a significant difference. Taunt is such an underestimated ability.
So almost every time I have seen him I have been able to remove him using plague doctor on a random minion I had lying around or just vilespine. I assume if the opponent does not have cheap hard removal that the lich king would be good. When I have played decks other than my jade rogue, I tend to see lich king lose the game. He has multiple effects that put you in a worse position fatigue wise, when the card is otherwise best in a grinder deck. Maybe when the meta speeds up again after people figure out what decks are strongest and people stop playing greedy control decks the lich king will be better, but if rogue is as powerful as it feels like to me right now, then the lich king is probably gonna be on par with ysera, except without dragon synergy. Although weirdly Arfus I have seen win games, but never off being put in the players deck. If you are able to trigger arfus' deathrattle then it is more valuable that the lich king because it is earlier in the game, and so it is easier to find the time when the tempo swing is biggest. That being said triggering arfus' deathrattle has been difficult for some of my opponents. I have used burgled cards from priest to steal their arfus multiple times in games, also I have gotten it off journey below and won with that, but never have I seen it win a game for somebody who ran the card.
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Just fill your deck with one drops, that is creative deck design, right?
You know I think a lot of people aren't taking The Black Knight into consideration right now, the game has more Taunts in it than ever before in the history of Hearthstone.
I have played ysera and it has ended up as a dead card vs more aggressive decks countless times. For people saying "Well I always remove it the turn it was summoned" that same argument can be used against ANY late game card.
Honestly if ysera would have taunt she would be in every deck period. Taunt on LK is actually huge while i agree that yseras cards are better on average
I disagree. Unless the board is out of control, taunt isn't a feature you want on a minion you're trying to keep alive multiple turns.
Honestly if ysera would have taunt she would be in every deck period. Taunt on LK is actually huge while i agree that yseras cards are better on average
I disagree. Unless the board is out of control, taunt isn't a feature you want on a minion you're trying to keep alive multiple turns.
Yes, I kind of agree. You actually want to protect LK, so he can make more cards, and attack efficiently. In a week, we will know for sure how good he is!
If surviving aggro is the goal, Primordial Drake is probably better.
I agree a 8 mana 8/8 taunt ysera would probably be better than dr 8 ^^
While LK has a better cost, his Taunt and bad stat distribution makes him a bad choice a lot of the time because while it does help stall a bit, it doesnt help sustain a control situation where youd want to generate more than 1 card.
Id even go on to say that if you want a LK card so bad then just use Arfus, but his stats are so much worse than what they should be and cant recommend him either lol.
Basically what im saying, is if you really want value from him, youd be better off just recieving him from Stonehill defender... and I predict thats exactly what will happen once the meta settles.
LK is just better than ysera again aggro(at the very least, it is an ironbark protector with an upside). That alone makes it a better card than ysera, which is something you would never want to run in an aggro meta.
I played vs him a couple of times, and I never scared me, nor got to see any of his cards... He is often just a vanilla 8-8, which can be dealt with pretty handily. The big downside is that his cards are often pretty useless for the situation, and he is too easily removed for a "grinder" kind of card.
Maybe he is still the best option for some decks? Primordial Drake and Medivh, the Guardian are pretty strong 8-drops too...
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide
In arena he can be the difference between winning and losing. I had a few games in which the opponent discovered it and while I was ahead on board I lost just because of him. Then in another run in which I discovered and summoned him through Free From Amber and I was behind he won me the game. The Death Knight card Death and Decay that makes 3 damage to all enemy minions is totally busted. Ysera's Ysera Awakens may come at the cost of 2 mana but it damages your own minions as well and your own character so there is some downside to using it. There is no downside to Death and Decay and you can choose to cast it whenever you want to...
Kalimos, Primal Lord's Invocation of Air while similar requires that you:
a) Play elementals, a certain type of cards that aren't always the most optimal in every deck, a harder condition for activating any of his effects
b) Make proactive plays and sometimes have clunky turns before you summon him just to have one of his effects activated on the next turn
c) Mandatory activate any of his effects the turn he is played,as opposed to any of the death knight cards where you can choose when they are more optimal to use. You set up a turn for Kalimos, Primal Lord but you want to have a different play and try summon him next turn? Well sucks to be you, if you have ran out of elementals because next turn you can't activate any of his effects.
Ysera supposedly is harder to remove for Priest as opposed to The Lich King though he can still use Mind Control.
So you thought only Mage had an exodia combo eh
Nah, I think the Lich King is better for the majority of classes. Coming out on turn 8 with taunt is much faster than turn 9 do nothing. That said, ysera is better if you are playing against priest or need dragon synergy.
I guarantee you that you'll be playing both in control so the question is irrelevant, but that said Taunt is AMAZING
Its not a downside imo, taunt makes it have an imediate impact on board, protecting you against aggro and so on
Lich king is faster. He costs 1 less, has taunt so it can't be ignored, generates cards such as death coil or frostmourne which are actually much better at ending the game then the dream cards, the 8/8 body is actually better aggressively than the 4/12 and wins the game much quicker than ysera does if it is not dealt with quickly.
Trust me coming out a turn earlier and having taunt really makes a significant difference. Taunt is such an underestimated ability.
So almost every time I have seen him I have been able to remove him using plague doctor on a random minion I had lying around or just vilespine. I assume if the opponent does not have cheap hard removal that the lich king would be good. When I have played decks other than my jade rogue, I tend to see lich king lose the game. He has multiple effects that put you in a worse position fatigue wise, when the card is otherwise best in a grinder deck. Maybe when the meta speeds up again after people figure out what decks are strongest and people stop playing greedy control decks the lich king will be better, but if rogue is as powerful as it feels like to me right now, then the lich king is probably gonna be on par with ysera, except without dragon synergy. Although weirdly Arfus I have seen win games, but never off being put in the players deck. If you are able to trigger arfus' deathrattle then it is more valuable that the lich king because it is earlier in the game, and so it is easier to find the time when the tempo swing is biggest. That being said triggering arfus' deathrattle has been difficult for some of my opponents. I have used burgled cards from priest to steal their arfus multiple times in games, also I have gotten it off journey below and won with that, but never have I seen it win a game for somebody who ran the card.
Just fill your deck with one drops, that is creative deck design, right?
Ysera is better in dragon decks, everything else Lich King is better because cannot be ignored.
How many times Ysera was a dead card vs aggro because you have to deal with the board and if you play her the opponent kill you?
You know I think a lot of people aren't taking The Black Knight into consideration right now, the game has more Taunts in it than ever before in the history of Hearthstone.
I have played ysera and it has ended up as a dead card vs more aggressive decks countless times. For people saying "Well I always remove it the turn it was summoned" that same argument can be used against ANY late game card.
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide