Crafting cards, especially Legendary cards, requires a large amount of commitment, especially for the player just starting to build their collection. The kicker is how often a metagame can change, easily pushing decks right out of the top tiers (I’m looking at you, Miracle Rogue).
When you’re going to make such a high investment you want to make sure that you’ll be able to get what you paid for. Well, this short list will surely help you get a better idea of what to go for. Keep in mind that this list is not counting cards you get from adventures (since, well, you don’t need to craft those).
Honorable mention: [Archmage Antonidas]
Antonidas is one of the biggest boons to any Mage deck you could be trying to play as it can single-handedly takeover a game without much assistance. It falls just short of making the list because of the fact that it’s class specific and because it is a rather clunky card that you almost never will play on turn seven. If you’re a dedicated Mage player and have already invested in Karazhan, then Antonidas will be the single biggest improvement for your archetype.
[Tirion Fordring]
We start this list with the massive powerhouse that is Tirion. The amount of raw power and value this card gives you can make any and every deck you do wind up playing that much better. I do have to take points off because of it being class specific, but this is the card that’s synonymous with Paladin. [Ragnaros Lightlord] is just a glorified self-healbot that may not actually have a relevant impact when getting rushed down hard. Tirion, on the other hand, will always be great.
[Ragnaros the Firelord]
Ragnaros is one of the premier cards for when you just need to get something dead, straight up, no questions asked, it’s almost always great when you’re at parity, when the board is thin, and when anything it hits is favorable for you. It’s one of the most played Legendaries in constructed, and it can fit into a solid 90% of decks you can build. This is one of the big three Legendaries that will have the most longevity and the most range, and if you’re looking for a direct brute force upgrade, this is it.
[Bloodmage Thalnos]
The most unassuming, innocuous, underwhelming looking Legendary card on this list, and possibly in the game. Hearthstone quickly teaches you to have massive, super swingy, hard hitting, high end cards. If you’re taken a look at most decks, you can see the stars like Ragnaros, [Call of the Wild], [Deathwing], and [Grommash Hellscream] make huge impacts. If those cards are the heavy lifters, Thalnos is the screw that keeps the smaller things in place. Everything from getting a [Fireball] within [Flamewreathed Faceless] range, to getting [Spirit Claws] to three attack, to making that [Lightning Storm] kill four-health minions for sure, [Bloodmage Thalnos] does so many small, tiny things that you may not realize at first, but will learn to appreciate the more you play and the more you improve.
[Sylvanas Windrunner]
Finally, there’s The Dark Lady. If Ragnaros can fit into 90% of the decks you play, Sylvanas will fit into 100%. The effect is so absurdly powerful, that the other cards that do anything similar have strict stipulations ([Mind Control Tech]), or are absurdly expensive ([Mind Control]). A six-mana 5/5 by itself is serviceable, but this effect is so ridiculously powerful that if your opponent doesn’t have an effect-mitigating answer, like [Polymorph] or [Hex], it is a complete roadblock for any tempo your opponent has gained. The chances of your opponent having to invest multiple resources into eliminating Sylvanas, just to be able to keep their gameplan going, is often very massive. I recommend to almost all new players I come across to craft Sylvanas as your first Legendary. If [Ragnaros the Firelord] is the king of pushing ahead in a game, Sylvanas is the queen of halting any momentum your opponent could have had; often stealing a game you had no business winning.
You honestly can’t go wrong with crafting any of these, but it’s important to have a good idea what the relative range of decks you want to play are. For example: If you want to play Tempo Mage, Antonidas is your best bet for sure. If you want to play Tempo Mage, Midrange Shaman, and Resurrect Priest, then Sylvanas will be a much better choice in the long run as it will be much more applicable across the board. You should also keep in mind the Epics that are important as well, as some of them can be more crucial than many Legendaries. While Sylvanas may be super helpful in your Control Warrior deck, Brawl is likely much more critical, and should be crafted first, for example.
These are, in my opinion, as good as it gets when it comes to getting the best bang for your dust. Building your collection is really tough if you aren’t willing to dump a bunch of money into packs, so getting the best possible cards early will get you more packs in the long run, as it will help you win more games, which will get you more gold. Of course, you could always open one of these, which helps shortcut the process, so you never really do know, but building as efficiently as possible is half the journey!
Anthony has been competing in games for the better part of his adult life and is dedicated to improving his game, improving his community, improving himself as a person, and most importantly having fun and enjoying himself while doing so. You can check out his stream to find out which video game is the latest to catch his attention.