Why was Ragnaros HoF'd?

Multiplayer Discussion
1

Hey can anyone tell me why Ragnaros was Hall of Fame’d a few years ago? Isn’t the new Alexstrasza just a …better version of Ragnaros?

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2

At the time he was a constant got to control finisher and they wanted to open up more design space for control decks. They did mention that he might come back in a future core set since he’s already been kinda power crept

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3

How is it better? It’s just different. Rag is a repeatable 8 rng dmg per turn. Alex is mostly (shadowstep exists) a one time use that can heal.

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4

Not just that. You can multiply him with several effects after he is played, leading to a “multi-shot salute” effect - several of those float around Youtube.
It’s meme stuff the likes of a MarkMcKz video, though.

5

If ragnaros was in the core set, I don’t think it would see any serious play right now.

This doesn’t mean it should come back: sometimes it’s ok to have old cards not in standard anymore, just to diversify the gameplay and make room for better cards

6

ragnaros would likely see play in most decks that want a late game threat. the fact that he deals damage without attacking means that he will constantly be a threat until your opponent kills him, freezing or reducing attack or putting up a taunt are doing nothing to stop the dmg

7

was an 8 mana staple since HS was released until it was HoF

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8

Elemental shaman would probably run him as a finisher, and any sort of nZoth deck might as well.

I’d definitely build a gimmick deck with him, celestial alignment and copy effects.

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9

From what I remember they wanted to make space for Lich King, also 8 drop and back then Ragnaros and Azure Drake (5 mana 4/4 Draw a card, spell damage +1) were in a lot of decks so they removed them to give a chance for new cards.

10

they removed a lot of cards, and not because of lich king, but because those cards were played in basically all decks

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11

Yes, but Lich King and Ragnaros were both 8 drops so he died for Lich King specifically.

12

He was moved to open the 8 mana slot in standard as rag was the pretty steady choice at 8 and even made the one top end card in low cost aggro decks sometimes.

13

Can you see the current power level of Elemental Shaman? Do you really want them to have access to Rag???

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