Hearthstone’s new format changes are, ultimately, a good thing.
But it’s bittersweet. The new Standard format will cause us to say goodbye to many of Hearthstone’s favorite cards as they become eligible for use in Wild only. The format change is necessary, but that doesn’t make losing cards like Piloted Shredder and Haunted Creeper easier to handle. The biggest blow has to be the loss of Dr. Boom, Hearthstone’s best neutral legendary. That’s not just an arbitrary title either, PC Gamer awarded Dr. Boom the title after surveying Hearthstone pros and streamers.
Dr. Boom is a staple in every competitive Hearthstone deck. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Paladin, Warlock or Shaman, your deck will include one copy of this crazy goblin and his mini bots. Why did Dr. Boom take off, but Troggzor didn’t, even though they both have the same mana cost?
Goblins vs. Gnomes was the first expansion pack released for Hearthstone. When the spoiler list of cards for the set came out, everyone speculated as to what the best cards would be. Twitch streamers released videos giving their predictions on what would be the best cards in the set. Kripp, one of the most famous streamers, didn’t value Dr. Boom very highly. He said: “it’s okay I guess.” His prediction was that Troggzor the Earthinator would be the best 7-drop to come from the set and might even be the best card.
Go back to 2014, when Hearthstone was first released. The card that everyone played was Ragnaros, the Firelord. For eight mana, you got an 8/8 minion that couldn’t attack, but dealt eight damage to a random enemy. Players used Ragnaros because no card in the game came close to giving that much value.eight damage per turn is no laughing matter, especially when it’s on a minion with such a beefy stat line. Big Game Hunter became a staple in decks to dispose of this threat as quickly as possible.
When Dr. Boom was released, Ragnaros disappeared. For seven mana you got 9/9 worth of stats and anywhere from two to eight extra damage as well. At its core, Hearthstone is a numbers game. Every card has an attack and health value along with a mana cost. Dr. Boom has the best return on investment of any card ever released, which is why he’s so valuable. Troggzor is only a 6/6 and needs your opponent to play a spell to even get close to Dr. Boom. Reactionary cards will always be weaker than cards with automatic activations.
Though Dr. Boom will soon be relegated to the wild, the community will still remember him through fan art, like the header image at the top of this article. We’re also fond of . comics like this one drawn by rnrn450.
How do you guys feel about Dr. Boom's new position? Tell us in the comments!
