This guide is meant to help new players decide which cards to keep and which to dust. With the frequent "What should I craft?" threads I found it appropriate to update my guide from September. Over the time I changed quite a lot of the card placements and wanted to show the newer players in this subreddit the updated guide. The card descriptions have also been adjusted to fit the LoE meta. I'll also keep this guide updated to reflect the current strength of the cards. I am basing the layout of the tierlist on the list made by /u/cgmcnama who made a thread like this 9 months ago. That means that the tiers are sorted alphabetically and that I will be providing a short explanation on the placements in the first two tiers.
Tier S: These cards are staples in a great deal of competitive decks
| Card Name | Class | Collection | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Boom | Neutral | GvG | "Dr. Balanced" is included in pretty much any type of deck due to the insane tempo swing he provides. He puts 9/9 worth of stats onto the battefield with the added bonus of the insane deathrattles. The Boom Bots themselves can trade with cards with up to 5 health. |
Tier 1: These cards are also great but usually class specific. Their unique effects are often impossible to replace.
| Card Name | Class | Collection | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexstrasza | Neutral | Classic | A staple in Freezemage and Control Warrior. The great thing about her is that you can use her effect to set up a lethal burst combo or to just heal yourself. |
| Archmage Antonidas | Mage | Classic | A win condition in most mage decks. The synergy with cheap spells such as Spare Parts, Mirror Image or Frostbolts makes it best to drop him on turn 8-10. Letting this card live for even one turn usually spells defeat for your opponent. |
| Bloodmage Thalnos | Neutral | Classic | Seen primarily in Freezemage and Oil Rogue. A cheap combo enabler for spell burst and a card cycle. This card does not seem to be impressive at first sight but is still powerful and unique. |
| Grommash Hellscream | Warrior | Classic | Control Warriors finisher. The 10 damage is usually seen just after Alexstrasza has been played, making for an easy and fast victory. However trading is also completely fine and leaves you with a threatening 10 attack body. |
| Harrison Jones | Neutral | Classic | A great card against Hunter, Paladin, Shaman and Warrior. He swaps in and out of the meta, depending on how strong the weapon classes are. The ladder is full of the 4 classes mentioned above and that likely won't change for a while. He's definitely a good card to have in your collection. |
| Justicar Trueheart | Neutral | TGT | Best used in Control Warrior but also viable in Paladin and Priest. Playing her on curve just makes you snowball the game really hard. Aggro can't keep up with your ever increasing life and you win most fatigue wars against opposing control decks. In Paladin the upgraded hero power increases the threat of a Quartermaster, forcing the opponent to clear 2 minions every turn. |
| Lord Jaraxxus | Warlock | Classic | If you don't own either of the Warlock legendaries, then go craft this guy. When you play him and don't get killed on the next turn you usually win. Control decks can't keep up with the everlasting stream of 6/6s and aggro can't get through if you taunt them up. The only downside of Jaraxxus is his low life total, making him susceptible to combo attacks. |
| Mal'Ganis | Warlock | GvG | Mainly seen in Zoolock and Demonlock where he works wonders. His ability not only destroys aggro decks such as Facehunters but also makes your Imp-losions or Dreadsteeds that much stronger. Having an endless stream of 3/3s is awesome. |
| Sylvanas Windrunner | Neutral | Classic | This card is usually the #1 neutral silence target in the game. Her deathrattle forces you opponent to play around it in weird ways, make inefficient trades or flood the board and pray. She has fallen out of favor a bit due to the rise of classes like Paladin that play many small minions. Entomb is also a card that makes you reconsider playing this against Priest. |
| Tirion Fordring | Paladin | Classic | Most likely the best class legendary in the game and an auto include in most Paladin decks. His body makes him go 2 for 1 easily and the weapon he gives you is 15 damage by itself. If you use it on your opponent that's half their life total just from the deathrattle of an already powerful creature. |
| Ysera | Neutral | Classic | The ultimate card for card advantage in control matchups. Letting her live for only 2 turns usually spells defeat for your opponent as the cards she provides are pretty much all insane. Her 12 health also makes her really difficult to remove. |
Tier 2: These cards can either be replaced or have a place in decks that are a bit more gimmicky
| Card Name | Class | Collection | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al'Akir | Shaman | Classic | A good finisher in many slower Shaman decks. Dropping him on turn 10 together with 2 Rockbiter Weapons amounts to a burst of 18 damage out of nowhere! Many decks use a Doomhammer or Bloodlust as an effective replacement. |
| Baron Geddon | Neutral | Classic | A great anti-aggro card. His effect forces your opponent to remove him immediately, or he will never be able to play minions again. Many cards like Leper Gnome or Arcane Golem become useless when this card is in play. He also enables good trades against Midrange or control decks. Last of all, he is a great BGH bait. |
| Cenarius | Druid | Classic | The power of this card comes with it's versatility: you can choose to taunt up if you are behind on the board, or you can choose to buff your other minions if you already have a board. He's also a good way to get more bodies on the board before the Force of Nature + Savage Roar finish. |
| Chillmaw | Neutral | TGT | Mainly used in Dragon Warrior but also not unheard of in Dragon Priest. This card was Blizzard's answer to the Patrons on ladder, clearing the board for 3 damage when killed. But don't fool yourself: It is a great card in many cases. Dropping her on turn 7 vs an aggro deck usually seals the game. The opponent not only has to deal with a 6-health taunt, but also loses their whole board afterwards. The damage on your side doesn't really matter, as Dragon decks normally pack minions that are a bit more sturdy. |
| Confessor Paletress | Priest | TGT | A great replacement for Ysera if you want to have some more anti-aggro tools: she not only brings the advantage of healing yourself, but also puts another (hopefully big) threat on the board. The times where you get a card of Lorewalker-quality are much more rare than the times in which you get a card with a great effect and/or big body. If you pull something like Paletress, Kel'Thuzad or Ysera it's game over for your opponent. |
| Edwin VanCleef | Rogue | Classic | Not that great of a card. Many Oil Rogue decks do fine without him, those that include him often don't need him all that much. His biggest drawback is his vulnerability to silence. You usually spend your mana ineffeciently to make him big - if he then gets reverted back to a 2/2 that's devastating. |
| Gormok the Impaler | Neutral | TGT | A new, strong card for decks that flood the board with cheap tokens. Getting 4 minions on the board is rather easy with Echoing Ooze, Imp-losion and Haunted Creepers. Getting his battlecry off usually means that your opponent lost all chances of a comeback. |
| Leeroy Jenkins | Neutral | Classic | Basically a neutral Fireball. He's used in some Facehunter decks, Combo Warlock and Aggro Paladin. The spawned Whelps are no drawback, as you will want to use this card as a finisher. They can also serve as a tool to create more Hounds from Unleash. His high attack stat allows some crazy combos in certain decks - it's possible to burst your opponent down from around 28 health in some Combolock! Other than that, he pops up in fringe Facedecks from time to time. |
| Malygos | Neutral | Classic | Malylock, Miracle Rogue, Ancestor's Call Shaman and some Freezemages are the only decks that use Malygos. While he is certainly strong and a game-finisher, there is no guarantee that you will draw him. The problem with these decks is that they often cannot close out games when they don't draw Malygos. If they do get a perfect draw it's game over for their opponent though. |
| Neptulon | Shaman | GvG | Shaman's late game draw engine. The body is not the highlight here, the murlocs are. The great thing about those is that they usually synergize with each other. It is not that difficult to put out a little unexpected burst with Bluegills, Warleaders and Tidehunters. |
| Nexus Champion Saraad | Neutral | TGT | He is an inclusion in some new, slower Tempomage decks which ping often in the late game. He can also be useful in fatigue decks like Warrior or Priest. The large pool of crappy spells in the game is pretty bad for him though. |
| Ragnaros the Firelord | Neutral | Classic | Once the #1 craft, this card has fallen out of favor. With the growing amount of sticky deathrattles and tokens it is pretty easy to waste his damage on a 1/1. That being said he's still hard to remove and can kill 8 health creatures for free. |
| Rhonin | Mage | TGT | Used in some slower tempo Mage decks. He puts a threatening body onto the battlefield and has an insane deathrattle. Comboing the 3 Arcane Missiles with an Antonidas or Malygos is game winning. Both of these plays are really slow though. |
| Sneed's Old Shredder | Neutral | GVG | A really slow legendary which can be included in many Control decks. Sneed's suffers from the problem that his body can rather easily be ignored when he is played. This means that you will have to pop him yourself. The legendary that comes out can either be utter crap or an instawin. As most legendaries don't have charge you will have to wait a turn to use it, which makes Sneed's one of the slowest legendaries in the whole game. |
| The Black Knight | Neutral | Classic | A tech card that swaps in and out of the meta. Getting his effect off isn't that difficult and usually swings the game in your favor. Just killing an Annoy-o-tron isn't that bad while killing a Sludge Belcher, Deathlord or an AoW can win you the game on the spot. That said, a 4/5 body isn't that great if you don't find any targets. |
| Toshley | Neutral | GVG | Might as well be a mage legendary as he only sees use in Mechmage and Tempo Mage. The 5 attack lets him trade with many other 5- or 6-drops such as Sludge Belcher or Thaurissan while his high health makes him very resilent. The spare parts have insane synergy with Archmage Antonidas, even more so if you manage to get a finnicky Cloakfield. |
| Vol'Jin | Priest | GvG | This guy can find a place in almost every Priest deck. The 2 health he gives your opponent can easily be cleared by a Holy Smite, Nova or Auchenai. Do keep in mind that he not only provides a sturdy body, but also deals a good amount of damage to an enemy minion. |
Tier 3: These cards either belong in gimmick decks or are just big piles of stats. Some of the class cards would be good as neutrals but don't have enough synergy with their own hero
Classic:
- Cairne Bloodhoof
- Captain Greenskin
- Deathwing
- Gruul
- Hogger
- King Krush
- King Mukla
- Onyxia
- Prophet Velen
- Blingtron 3000
- Bolvar Fordragon
- Foe Reaper 4000
- Gahz'rilla
- Iron Juggernaut
- Malorne
- Mogor the Ogre
- Trade Prince Gallywix
- Troggzor the Earthinator
- Anub'Arak
- Aviana
- Dreadscale
- Eadric the Pure
- Eydis Darkbane
- Fjola Lightbane
- Icehowl
- Skycap'n Kragg
- The Mistcaller
- Varian Wrynn
Tier 4: Please don't craft these cards. Even some of the basic cards are better than a good deal of these legendaries. A part of these cards belong in ultra gimmicky decks; don't expect to win with them
Classic:
- Illidan Stormrage
- Lorewalker Cho
- Millhouse Manastorm
- Nat Pagle
- Nozdormu
- The Beast
- Tinkmaster Overspark
- Flame Leviathan
- Gazlowe
- Hemet Nesingwary
- Mekgineer Thermaplugg
- Mimiron's Head
- Acidmaw
- Bolf Ramshield
- The Skeleton Knight
- Wilfred Fizzlebang
Conclusion
Do note that this should a only be a general guideline . There are no "right" and "wrong" crafts, so if you want to make your AFK Warlock then go craft that Nozdormu. Just keep in mind that most of the lower tiered legendaries don't fit into many decks. If you value a full collection then don't disenchant any cards at all. 400 dust isn't all that much while 1600 dust is.
Note: If you find any grammar or spelling mistakes please PM me. English isn't my first language and I want this guide to be as clean and good as possible.
Edit 1: Baron Geddon (Tier 1 -> Tier 2), Leeroy Jenkins (Tier 3 -> Tier 2)
Edit 2: Gazlowe (Tier 3 -> Tier 4), Ragnaros the Firelord (Tier 1 -> Tier 2)
Edit 3: Vol'jin (Tier 1 -> Tier 2)
Edit 4: Eydis Darkbane (Tier 2 -> Tier 3)
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