Hearthpwn

Agreed.
We humans aren't good at noticing general probability but instead focus on the outlying cases, even if Flame Leviathan was mostly neutral (which it's not) anyone who puts it in their deck is going to die once or twice from it and throw it away.  The prospect of losing a match because the card you drew killed you just won't sit well with most people.

It leaves some hilarious encounters for the enemy, like that time a mage pinged their Acolyte for another card and that card suddenly wiped out their acolyte out of revenge.

It's sad when a card makes war golem seem reasonable.  No burning your own minions, no announcement to enemies, same cost.

Looking at the class legendaries is a bit like playing the Sesame Street game "Which of these things is not like the others?"  In no way is Flame Leviathan on the same tier.  It doesn't "fit," it doesn't synergize, it penalizes you just for including it.  It doesn't just "push" a certain type of mage deck, but sabotages all others which try to include it.

Mage is suffering on ladder, and this expansion just nerfed mages terribly.  Kezan Mystic.  Troggzor the Earthinator.  Flame Leviathan.  In exchange for a Snowchugger and a Soot spewer?  Rogues get an "Ogre Ninja" but they skip out on giving mage the obvious Ogre Magi?  Still, all of that would be fine if we got a decent legendary that gave the class more flexibility.  But nope.

But the biggest problem isn't that it's a bad card.  Bad cards happen.  But it's not even a mage card, and that's why Flame Leviathan is truly embarrassing.

Druids get a god.  Warlocks get the demon that destroyed Lordaeron.  Paladins get the new Liche King.  Hunters get the biggest beast on Azeroth.  Shamans get the Spirit of the Oceans.  Rogues get the bad ass Goblin horde leader.  Priests get the bad ass Troll horde leader.  Warriors get the Destroyer that Hellscream used to take Ogrimmar and seize control of the horde.

Mages get a big tank built by a giant mechagnome.  Totally arcane, that is.  Not the card.  I mean their thinking in picking it.  Arcane and mysterious.

Just saw the incredible video of Amaz's double exploding sheep 4 damage board clear.

I wonder if dropping a sheep, and then playing "Arcane Intellect" 2 times, for 4 chances at a Flame Leviathan 4 damage AoE, PLUS, 4 card draw, would be worth running this Flame Leviathan (in my Duplicate/Big Minion/Control Mage oriented deck)....

Whereas just playing the sheep on Turn 10, with a ping would be only 2 dmg AoE, for 4 mana. The double proc from Levi, would do 4 dmg AoE for 2 mana, through whatever card draw mechanics you use.

Hmmm....

Th people are more angry for the reputation of the mage class i mean comon a tank.. From uldar is a mage thing ?? in my opinion we are better with no legendary than this .. Monster....

@^: I like that idea

Seen this card on streams and I have to say, it's at least hilarious to watch!

I think this Flame Leviathan has no legendary stats... There must be a change on this card. A 7 cost 7/7 minion with uncontrollable aoe? Hmm War Golem costs 7 and is a 7/7 normal creature. So, you wanna tell me that the uncontrollable 2 dmg aoe does make the Leviathan worth a Legendary? uncontrollable 2 dmg aoe boosts the Mage War Golem from normal to a legendary??? Common this card needs some change or push the War Golem to it's rightful place as an epic card or so...

I also agree with those of you who say this card is no mage class card. If it's a normal legendary I'm ok with it.

If it would be a battlecry who freezes all enemie charakters, that would be worth... even if it freezes when I draw it, that's fine.

Leviathan has a lack of power, cost/value, synergie, mage like card (style) and I don't like cards that can be predicted when I draw it.

It's somewhat funny to watch on streams as it's mostly screwed over the person who has it in their decks.

This card is just terrible no matter how hard we're racking our brains trying to redeem it.

I doubt there is any decks which it will fit into where I just wont pick another better legendary... heck even an Explosive Sheep.

Biggest disappointment of this expansion.

Blizzard should learn that when it comes to class specific legendaries they need to satisfy players expectations better. Make them interplay much better with the class theme. I'd have loved to see a legendary that does something special to secrets. For example: You can have multiples of the same secret in play, or when a secret triggers put a copy of it into your hand, etc.

This all being said there's virtually no hope they will buff this legendary. We're better off hoping that they will make amends and give Mages a pimping legendary with the next set... However long that will take...

I'm sure others here know much more than me about the game, so this is more a question than a theory:

It's my understanding that the mage's strength lies in really damaging and mana-efficient spells. Doesn't drawing Flame Levi. mid-game increase their efficiency by softening the enemy minions up? Even your hero power does 3 damage on the turn you draw it, in a sense. RNG aside, would it be decent for a viable future Mage type?

It will be decent.

It won Trump a game and it lost him a game. He admitted he wasn't playing around it, though.

Quote from TectonicRobot »

It won Trump a game and it lost him a game. He admitted he wasn't playing around it, though.

In all fairness Trump was already winning the game in question before he drew it. ;-)

I hope it see some play, even being one of the worst class legendaries FL still seems to fit well in Freeze Mage. 

I was just playing Handlock (no GvG card yet, classic list) when I faced some Control Warrior running Juggernaut. I was at 11 life when I drew the Mine, still won a few turns later at 1 life. 

Although the card is strong, it can be as RNG as Flame Leviathan - some times the Mine is overkill against an opponent at low life, or we simply never see the Mine being triggered in rush matches, other times it isn't enough to finish the game despite of it being a dragged control match such as the one I just won even after the 10 damage. 

Sure, it's virtually impossible for Iron Juggernaut to screw your game as a bad timed Flame Leviathan: wether it's on turn 7 or 10 you can only get value from 0.5 mana Pyroblast. But as far as RNG goes playing an overpriced 6/5 with no assured extra value is worst than a 7/7 Flame Leviathan which pass the vanilla test - besides, for better or worse, you'll get FL's activation as long as you draw it, no way around.

At first I thought Iron Juggernaut would be one of the strongest class legendaries, now I think it's just average. On the other hand Flame Leviathan can be quite useful as I got Consecrated from nowhere a few times since GvG's release on ladder. 

So we get it, this card is bad in freeze mage who often sits in 1 health.

However, do you think it might be a viable card in a deck with enrage type of minions? Or just in a mage that doesn't go to 1 health too often?

Quote from Primalsplit »

So we get it, this card is bad in freeze mage who often sits in 1 health.

However, do you think it might be a viable card in a deck with enrage type of minions? Or just in a mage that doesn't go to 1 health too often?

it's the uncontrollable element that make this card completely useless. unlike other RNG this card is by far the worst one of all since you can't even control the timing of activation. if it's an enrage type of mage i'd rather use explosive sheep or even elfen archer instead.

Rely on it to achieve shenanigans on our board seems too risky. For me this card works on Freeze Mage even with the worst case scenario of killing you on later turns. Besides the bad timed FL at 1~2 life, all the other scenarios simply gives you a free Consecrate.

I don't understand the people who say this card is viable.  It has a chance of wiping your minions or cracking your ice block.  But what's the upside?  A chance of killing a few enemy minions?  Even if the likelihood is that the effect will be more positive than negative, I don't see anyone wanting to play a card that has even chance of costing you the game and an even bigger chance of fizzling, and a 100% chance of being an expensive war golem likely to spend many turns dead in your hand.

Well... because you don't have to play with a minion heavy deck as a mage. The potential of having an 0 mana cost AOE in a class that has flexible spells and a hero power sounds too good to pass up. It's also not the end of the world to have a 7-7 card in hand to use later in the game. In fact, it is like two effects stacked into one. Once the initial damage is done, it's more like half of the card is already played and now you have the other half in hand.

No one is saying the card is a must-include in all mage decks, or even viable. It is a card with a rather unique mechanic, so it makes sense to think of possible usages.

I got this card from a pack by the way. It's my first GvG legendary :D

It's a niche legendary. Freeze Mage doesn't run early game minions, the few ones gives you value even in the scenario of a bad timed FL activation. Freeze Mage also has some decent card draw in early and mid game, which increases the chances of drawing FL in crucial turns against rush/aggro archetypes. By the time you're at Ice Block's mercy you most likely spent all of the draw engine you had (Acolyte, Hoarder and AI), so I see the 'screwed Ice Block' scenario as the most unlikely one. 

For me the worse and more likely scenario is to activate FL in a empty board, but if you're pressured by zoo or hunter then your AI, Hoarders and Acolytes may trigger a free mini-hellfire, once I get it I'll test in my Freeze Mage for sure.