Unlicensed Apothecary

Unlicensed Apothecary

Regular

Gold

Set:	Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
Type:	Minion
Minion type:	Demon
Class:	Warlock
Rarity:	Epic
Cost:	3
Attack:	5
Health:	5
Abilities:	Deal damage
Wiki tags:	Summoning-related, Triggered effect
Artist:	Jon Neimeister

After you summon a minion, deal 5 damage to your Hero.

Flavor text

Get the ingredients wrong on ONE healing potion and they take your license. What a world!

External links

Data page • Hearthpwn

Unlicensed Apothecary is an epic warlock minion card, from the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan set.

How to get

Unlicensed Apothecary can be obtained through Mean Streets of Gadgetzan card packs, or through crafting.

Card	Crafting cost	Disenchanting
Unlicensed Apothecary	400	100
Golden Unlicensed Apothecary	1600	400

Notes

• Unlicensed Apothecary is (no longer) a Summon Resolution Step trigger. This leads to the following interactions:
  • If you summon an Unlicensed Apothecary and other minions in the same Phase (such as by summoning many demons at once using Krul the Unshackled), the Unlicensed Apothecary triggers for each other minion summoned.
  • If you play a Battlecry minion with a transform effect, any Unlicensed Apothecaries will trigger both for the played minion if it's the same controller (following the On Play Phase) and also the post-transform minion if it's the same controller (following the After Summon Phase). This means, for example, that a Faceless Manipulator will trigger your Unlicensed Apothecaries twice. (This might be a bug, as a similar bug with Rumbling Elemental triggering twice for Faceless Manipulator targeting a Battlecry minion was hotfixed (and the hotfix later accidentally reverted).)
  • Because heroes cannot recover from fatal damage once the current Phase ends, playing a minion with a healing Battlecry (eg Reno Jackson) while at 5 or less Health with an Unlicensed Apothecary on board will result in the hero being destroyed, even if the minion's healing should allow the hero to live, because the hero is dead before the Battlecry Phase begins.
  • Important note: as of the October 17th update, Unlicensed Apothecary's wording has been changed to after you summon a minion and not whenever you summon a minion, and will no longer have the previous interactions.
• Although the card text reads "After you summon a minion", the effect actually triggers for every minion summoned on your side of the board.
  • Example: You have an Unlicensed Apothecary on the board, and your opponent plays Leeroy Jenkins. Its Battlecry summons two Whelps for you, causing the Apothecary to deal 5 damage to your hero twice.

Strategy

Although this minion's drawback is severe, it's possible to avert it entirely. Due to Unlicensed Apothecary's obscene stats, playing additional minions will usually not be necessary to control the board. Slower decks like Handlock can take the most advantage out of this. Renolock can even play one or two minions while this is on the board and recover later using Reno Jackson.

While the incredible statline makes this a tempting choice for Zoolock, the downside is far more problematic in that kind of deck. Other strong 3 drops without downsides, such as Darkshire Councilman and Imp Gang Boss, are often better.

The drawback can be easily circumvented on following turns by first playing a Violet Illusionist or silencing it with Light's Champion, which will even negate the damage from playing itself.

Unlicensed Apothecary can be used in Treachery OTK decks, using either a Diseased Vulture also given away with Treachery with Curse of Rafaam to guarantee self-damage, or Zul'Drak Ritualist with Brann Bronzebeard.

Quotes

Summon

'Join the Kabal', they said. Hmph!

Attack

Want a drink? *cackles*

Lore

Unlicensed Apothecary is an Imp who has joined the Kabal. Judging by his flavour text and trigger animation, it seems that he brews faulty healing potions to throw at your hero, causing you to take damage.

Gallery

Unlicensed Apothecary, full art

Patch changes

• Patch 9.2.0.21517 (2017-10-17): Now reads: “After you summon a minion, deal 5 damage to your hero.” It will no longer activate from any Evolve effects.
• Patch 7.0.0.15590 (2016-11-29): Added.