Good card but unreliable. The 7/8 body with taunt is pretty good but the battlecry will give you lots of random stuff. Could be good, could be bad, could be whatever. It's probably mostly going to be used as a tech in certain decks. But it definitely looks like a fun card to play with.
This is why I like it in zoo best as a top end card. At a certain point you know your deck can't win if you can't get your opponent dead. While this IS unreliable at a certain point not going to be any less reliable than the rest of your aggro cards against a control deck that you couldn't kill early.
This card is playable, but not OP. I see a niche for it in a deck with Hakkar, the Soulflayer, where you play a control warlock shell with Hakkar and use Corrupted Bloods to replace cards in your deck in exchange for damage. Each corrupted blood you draw deals 3 damage, but also will add 2 cards to your deck's card count once you replace them using Arch-Villain Rafaam. To put this into perspective, drawing 3 corrupted blood will add 6 cards to your deck and deal you 9 damage. This holds off fatigue for 6 turns, which otherwise would have dealt you 21 damage if you can stretch the game that long. While I predict that this will likely be a meme more than a viable deck, control warlock has never really died and so I can see it emerging in the next meta.
Looks like this is for a Hakkar Warlock deck. If Hakkar dies, play this guy and then hopefully you have enough good legendaries to ward the opponent off till the end.
I would like to play this in a zoo deck, if the aggro plan fails your drop this, then you play a jan'alai per turn until your opponent's dead. Or at least that's what I would like to see, in reality this will probably turn your deck in a beautiful pile of golden lorewalker chos.
So, I'll make one last comment. Many people are looking at this card and saying stuff like "it's unrealiable and it can give you weak legendaries".
Leute, why was Elise Starseeker so popular back in the days? It was because she could replace your worthless reactive spells, card draws (in warrior, priest) and tech cards with potentially high-quality minions. You may not always get the dream results, but improving the contents of your hand & deck is still very beneficial regardless. I remember watching control warrior mirrors back in LoE, where the person, who found and played the monkey first was in a better position than the other. Just imagine for a second, if Odd Warriors could replace Reckless Flurry in the mirror. I know this spell together with Baki will rotate, but I wanted to use it as an example. Also, as others have already mentioned, Rafaam is a wonderful card in zoo as well, as it replaces the weak 1 mana imps with bigger legendaries. If you are in a position, where your deck can't generate enough damage, instead of conceding you will just continue the fight.
That said, I'm not blind to the flaws of this legendary and in fact I would like to name a few - unlike Elise I can't play this minion for tempo and keep the removals in my hand. If I'm in a position, where I HAVE to save a Twisting Nether and play it on a future turn or risk getting overwhelmed, then Rafaam becomes a bad top-deck. He's also a bit expensive and people may not always follow up with a 3-drop after playing him. Another con I see in him is the instant Golden monkey completion. This doesn't regard Rafaam's viability but more his design. Unlike Elise, he just gives us the reward on the spot. We don't shuffle a map in our deck, we don't get to go on an adventure in finding the artifact. He just hands it over to us, which kills the joy of the whole search imho.
With the game changing so much, I can imagine a world where Elise Starseeker all in one card is not bad again. Just not sure about it being a Warlock card. If it was a Warrior legendary, I'd probably rate it higher.
My main grip with this card is that it have no link with the Warlock identity. I guess they were worried that as a neutral legendary it would have made it in too many decks ? Using a Warlock legendary slot for this feel kinda sad.
I wished this was neutral, but then again we would probably get a meta in which every control deck played this just like golden monkey was. It's a fun card for sure.
Well I was kinda hyped for this expansion because of rafaam but seeing him now , he seems pretty boring & actually kinda bad, Zoolock doesn’t need this shit , it’s just too slow.
Would have been great if it was a neutral card instead of a class card for Warlock.Tbh Lord Jaraxxus gives better value than this guy & he doesn’t see play either
Well I was kinda hyped for this expansion because of rafaam but seeing him now , he seems pretty boring & actually kinda bad, Zoolock doesn’t need this shit , it’s just too slow.
I'm not sure. On the one hand, people predicted Azalina Soulthief would be used by aggro decks as a last push and that never happened. On the other hand, we've seen every Hunter except Odd play Deathstalker Rexxar, so if a card provides enough value, it will be played in a deck even if it has no synergy with it.
Would have been great if it was a neutral card instead of a class card for Warlock.Tbh Lord Jaraxxus gives better value than this guy & he doesn’t see play either
The value of Jaraxxus is fantastic, but the tempo is not: it takes one turn before you can use the hero power and another turn before the 6/6 can attack. This combined with the health reset means it's not easy to play Jaraxxus and not die before his value kicks in. Since Arch-Villain Rafaam has decent stats and taunt, it's a much safer play.
I'm thinking this new Rafaam could be decent in Control Warlock: they often have lots of cards in hand, so more chances to get good random legendaries. With Bloodreaver Gul'dan and Rin, the First Disciple gone from Standard, Control Warlock needs a new way to close out games.
Pretty goood, competitive Statline, Taunt, and a lategame effect.
Old Elise did see play in Control Warrior and Priest, if Warlock gets a good control deck that might be able to play the value game.
I just wonder if it measues up to good old LOrd J-raxx (or it might just be run alongside it for the ultimate value drop
I tried having fun once. It was awful.
This will be fun to play.
Good for a Zoo deck. Better than liam for odd paladin. Converting all your low cost cards into legendaries in late game.
This is why I like it in zoo best as a top end card. At a certain point you know your deck can't win if you can't get your opponent dead. While this IS unreliable at a certain point not going to be any less reliable than the rest of your aggro cards against a control deck that you couldn't kill early.
This card is playable, but not OP. I see a niche for it in a deck with Hakkar, the Soulflayer, where you play a control warlock shell with Hakkar and use Corrupted Bloods to replace cards in your deck in exchange for damage. Each corrupted blood you draw deals 3 damage, but also will add 2 cards to your deck's card count once you replace them using Arch-Villain Rafaam. To put this into perspective, drawing 3 corrupted blood will add 6 cards to your deck and deal you 9 damage. This holds off fatigue for 6 turns, which otherwise would have dealt you 21 damage if you can stretch the game that long. While I predict that this will likely be a meme more than a viable deck, control warlock has never really died and so I can see it emerging in the next meta.
Looks like this is for a Hakkar Warlock deck. If Hakkar dies, play this guy and then hopefully you have enough good legendaries to ward the opponent off till the end.
7 mana 7/8 taunt is godtier but the abillity only works in late game fatigue what a shame
Legendaries got way worse than starseeker...see stormbringer. Still, it might see in control play, since rin is going out.
I am more disappointed about wasring a cool character with the xth time that they have a random legendary mechanic...feels stale and uncreative.
Occasionally gives helpful advice.
I would like to play this in a zoo deck, if the aggro plan fails your drop this, then you play a jan'alai per turn until your opponent's dead. Or at least that's what I would like to see, in reality this will probably turn your deck in a beautiful pile of golden lorewalker chos.
So, I'll make one last comment. Many people are looking at this card and saying stuff like "it's unrealiable and it can give you weak legendaries".
Leute, why was Elise Starseeker so popular back in the days? It was because she could replace your worthless reactive spells, card draws (in warrior, priest) and tech cards with potentially high-quality minions. You may not always get the dream results, but improving the contents of your hand & deck is still very beneficial regardless. I remember watching control warrior mirrors back in LoE, where the person, who found and played the monkey first was in a better position than the other. Just imagine for a second, if Odd Warriors could replace Reckless Flurry in the mirror. I know this spell together with Baki will rotate, but I wanted to use it as an example. Also, as others have already mentioned, Rafaam is a wonderful card in zoo as well, as it replaces the weak 1 mana imps with bigger legendaries. If you are in a position, where your deck can't generate enough damage, instead of conceding you will just continue the fight.
That said, I'm not blind to the flaws of this legendary and in fact I would like to name a few - unlike Elise I can't play this minion for tempo and keep the removals in my hand. If I'm in a position, where I HAVE to save a Twisting Nether and play it on a future turn or risk getting overwhelmed, then Rafaam becomes a bad top-deck. He's also a bit expensive and people may not always follow up with a 3-drop after playing him. Another con I see in him is the instant Golden monkey completion. This doesn't regard Rafaam's viability but more his design. Unlike Elise, he just gives us the reward on the spot. We don't shuffle a map in our deck, we don't get to go on an adventure in finding the artifact. He just hands it over to us, which kills the joy of the whole search imho.
With the game changing so much, I can imagine a world where Elise Starseeker all in one card is not bad again. Just not sure about it being a Warlock card. If it was a Warrior legendary, I'd probably rate it higher.
This card will mostly see play in zoolock/aggro decks.
People who played liam in odd paladin know the true power of this card for a zoo deck.
My main grip with this card is that it have no link with the Warlock identity. I guess they were worried that as a neutral legendary it would have made it in too many decks ? Using a Warlock legendary slot for this feel kinda sad.
I wished this was neutral, but then again we would probably get a meta in which every control deck played this just like golden monkey was. It's a fun card for sure.
Well I was kinda hyped for this expansion because of rafaam but seeing him now , he seems pretty boring & actually kinda bad, Zoolock doesn’t need this shit , it’s just too slow.
Would have been great if it was a neutral card instead of a class card for Warlock.Tbh Lord Jaraxxus gives better value than this guy & he doesn’t see play either
I hope to get this golden to be able to play a fully golden legendaries (meme) deck
Hey where did he get The Staff of Origination? I thought the point of LoE was to get it back. Reno will be pissed!
I'm not sure. On the one hand, people predicted Azalina Soulthief would be used by aggro decks as a last push and that never happened. On the other hand, we've seen every Hunter except Odd play Deathstalker Rexxar, so if a card provides enough value, it will be played in a deck even if it has no synergy with it.
The value of Jaraxxus is fantastic, but the tempo is not: it takes one turn before you can use the hero power and another turn before the 6/6 can attack. This combined with the health reset means it's not easy to play Jaraxxus and not die before his value kicks in. Since Arch-Villain Rafaam has decent stats and taunt, it's a much safer play.
I'm thinking this new Rafaam could be decent in Control Warlock: they often have lots of cards in hand, so more chances to get good random legendaries. With Bloodreaver Gul'dan and Rin, the First Disciple gone from Standard, Control Warlock needs a new way to close out games.
That synergy with Hakaar haha