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You might be looking for one of these cards: Warsong Commander (boss), Warsong Commander (Classic), Warsong Commander (Core).

Warsong Commander is a free warrior minion card, from the Legacy set.

Other versions

How to get

The Regular and Golden copies of Warsong Commander are uncraftable and cannot be crafted, disenchanted, or opened from card packs.
TypeSourceQualityCount

Previous availability

Warsong Commander used to be obtainable through these means.

TypeSourceQualityCount
Custom Level up warrior to 36 until March 30, 2021. Golden 1
Custom Level up warrior to 38 until March 30, 2021. Golden 1
Custom Unlock warrior until March 30, 2021. Regular 2

Sounds

Play
Attack
  • ▶️ VO_EX1_084_Attack_02.wav For the Warsong!
Death

History

Warsong Commander was first publicly changed during the closed beta with Patch 1.0.0.4458. The minion's previous ability had been Your other minions have Charge. This allowed warriors to use Warsong Commander to send even large minions such as LegacyBoulderfist Ogre immediately into battle, presenting something close to a win condition if the player was able to keep the Commander on the board, especially once higher levels of mana were reached. A more extreme combination involved using LegacyYouthful Brewmaster at low Health to repeatedly play LegacyMolten Giant, dealing huge amounts of damage in one turn.[1] The card was therefore changed to read Whenever you summon a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge.

This version of the card saw minimal use in the meta, although it remained effective in certain combo decks, such as those revolving around LegacyFrothing Berserker and LegacyRaging Worgen one turn kills. Later in 2014 bugs caused the card to no longer grant Charge to cards whose Attack was increased through Battlecries, most notably impacting LegacyBloodsail Raider; the card also often failed to grant Charge to minions summoned by other minions, such as LegacyHarvest Golem's LegacyDamaged Golem. Both of these bugs further reduced the card's popularity.

With the release of Blackrock Mountain in April 2015, Warsong Commander saw new potential with the introduction of Blackrock MountainGrim Patron. The previous bug preventing the card from granting Charge to minions not played from the hand was fixed in time for the release of the adventure, allowing Warsong Commander to grant Charge to an almost endless series of Grim Patrons in a single turn. The presence of any enemy minion with less than 3 Attack could be attacked into by the Patron to create another Grim Patron with Charge, which could in turn attack a weak enemy minion, again creating another Grim Patron which also had Charge, and so on. The result was an extremely powerful deck capable of delivering devastating one turn kills, and performing extremely well against other decks in the meta. Decks were quickly built around this combination, along with Frothing Berserker and activators such as LegacyWhirlwind, and soon rose to be considered by many one of the most powerful decks in the game.

However, the non-interactive nature of this deck, along with its high popularity (and notoriety) among players led in late 2015 to Warsong Commander being nerfed, with its text changed to Your Charge minions have +1 Attack. The deck had long drawn comparisons to Miracle Rogue both for its non-interactive play, as well as its challenging complexity to play properly. The developers stated that they "felt this change was necessary to help expand both future design space and to stand by our overarching game philosophy that battles between minions and fighting for board control is what makes Hearthstone fun and compelling."[2] Most importantly, the developers realised that the ability to grant Charge was simply too powerful, and that without removing this entirely, the card would remain "so dangerous it would definitely be a problem again in the future."[3] Ben Brode stated that the card's design had also long inhibited the design space for low-Attack cards, including the neutral prototype of The Grand TournamentDreadsteed, which was originally planned as part of Curse of Naxxramas, but had to be cancelled due to its synergy with Warsong Commander allowing players to "slowly machine-gun down every minion on your opponent's board". However, Brode admitted that the new card "isn't good", and that it would "take [warriors] down a peg" in the Arena.[1]

The new text was chosen based on several factors: the developers wanted to stay true to Warsong Commander's Charge theme; they wanted the card to continue its role as a build-around for warrior decks; and if possible they wanted to keep its stats as similar as possible.[1][4] After trying "30 or 40 different designs", the final text was chosen, due to best fulfilling these requirements.[1] The developers accepted that the card would likely disappear from the meta, in exchange particularly for it continuing its role as a useful build-around for warriors.[1] The change also simplified what the developers considered an inappropriately complex design for a basic card, which intentionally feature relatively simple mechanics.[1]

Warsong Commander has seen many revisions in its life cycle. Its original nerf was set aside and Warsong Commander was reworked with the introduction of the Core set in 2021, gaining the text "After you summon another minion, give it Rush."

Due to the later rework not boosting Warsong Commander's popularity enough, it was removed from the Core set in 2022. And finally a year later, it was reverted back to its original form in 2023, once again granting Charge to other minions.

Lore

Wowpedia iconThis section uses content from Wowpedia.
The Warsong clan is a warlike orcish clan originally hailing from the plains of Nagrand. It was formerly led by the legendary Grommash "Grom" Hellscream, and later by his headstrong son, Hero SkinsGarrosh Hellscream. The Warsong Outriders form the Horde forces in Ashenvale and Warsong Gulch, while the Warsong Offensive spearheaded the Horde Expedition's assault against the Scourge in Northrend.

Trivia

  • The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Wrathgate" series, for the card Katoka Dreadblade.
  • Warsong Commander was removed for selection in Arena on September 15, 2016[5] but was reinstated on December 9, 2018.[6]
  • In Heroes of the Storm, Johanna's Warsong Johanna skin is based off Warsong Commander.
  • Gallery

    Patch changes

    • FOL LogoPatch 26.0.0.170824 (2023-04-04):
      • Now reads: "Whenever you summon a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge." (previously: "After you summon another minion, give it Rush.")
    • Forged in the Barrens logoPatch 20.0.0.77662 (2021-03-25):
      • 2021-03-30: Moved from Basic to Legacy set.
      • Now reads: After you summon another minion, give it Rush. (previously: Your Charge minions have +1 Attack.).
    • Rastakhan's Rumble logo Patch 13.0.3.28329 (2018-12-19):
      • No longer banned from Arena drafting.
    • One Night in Karazhan logo full2 Patch 6.1.1.14366 (2016-09-15):
      • Banned from Arena drafting.
    • The Grand Tournament logo Patch 3.2.0.10604 (2015-10-20):
      • Now reads: Your Charge minions have +1 Attack. (previously: Whenever you summon a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge.)
    • Blackrock Mountain logo Patch 2.4.0.8311 (2015-03-31):
      • Bug fix: Will now correctly give Charge to minions summoned by other minions.
    • Hearthstone logo Patch 1.0.0.4458 (Closed beta, 2014-1-16):
      • Now reads: Whenever you summon a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge. (previously: Your other minions have Charge.)
    • Hearthstone logo Patch 1.0.0.4217 (Closed beta, 2013-12-10):
      • Golden card unlock requirement is now: "Unlocked at Level 36." (previously: "Unlocked at Level 32.").
    • Hearthstone logo Patch 1.0.0.3890 (Closed beta, 2013-10-02):
      • Flavor text now reads: "The Warsong clan is such drama. It's really not worth it to become a commander." (previously: no flavor text).
      • Unlock requirement is now: "Unlocked at Level 1." (previously: no special unlock requirement).
      • Golden card unlock requirement is now: "Unlocked at Level 32." (previously: no special unlock requirement).
    • Hearthstone logo Patch 1.0.0.3140 (Alpha, April or May 2013):
      • Added.
      • Now has 3 Health (Up from 2).

    External links

  • PlayHearthstone
  • HSReplay.net
  • Hearthpwn
  • OutOf.Cards
  • References[]

     
    1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Designer Insights with Ben Brode: Warsong Commander. (2015-10-14). 
    2. Zeriyah (2015-10-13). Upcoming Balance Change to Warsong Commander
    3. Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-10-14). 
    4. Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-10-14). 
    5. Dean Ayala (2016-09-08). Hearthside Chat: Upcoming Arena Changes with Dean Ayala. Retrieved on 2019-03-26.
    6. Blizzard Entertainment (2018-12-19). Arena Updates – December 19 2018. Retrieved on 2019-03-26.
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