Cathedral Gargoyle

Cathedral Gargoyle Card

Cathedral Gargoyle is a 2 Mana Cost Epic Paladin Minion card from the The Witchwood set!

Card Text

Battlecry: If you're holding a Dragon, gain Taunt and Divine Shield.

Flavor Text

Fly like an eagle, drop like a rock.

Cathedral Gargoyle Card Review

Shielded Minibot? With an upside? What? Oh, the Dragon synergy is required. That’s good.

But wait, is it good? While it’s still theorycrafting, the synergy might actually be activated quite easily.

First option is obviously a full Dragon Paladin deck. Something that was attempted in the past before. There were even some Paladin Dragon synergies – Dragon Consort and Nightbane Templar, although the second one wasn’t really great. Right now, this will be the only Paladin Dragon synergy in Standard, but that might be enough, as its honestly the best one out of three.

But is it worth it to build a Midrange Dragon Paladin? To be fair, I don’t think so. Netherspite Historian rotates out, as well as some strong Dragons like Book Wyrm. And Midrange Paladin is kind of a thing of the past – aggressive builds are just better now with the cards the class has.

But maybe some Aggro Paladin, with just some Dragons here and there? Maybe? That might actually work. The new card – Nightmare Amalgam – should be great for this kind of deck. Then, Cobalt Scalebane is a thing, and even though it hasn’t seen much play recently, it’s not a bad card by any means. Faerie Dragon could also be used in a 2-drop slot, it’s a solid activator and also a good thing to pull from Call to Arms.

One of the issues with this card is that Gargoyle itself is not great to pull from CtA. Vanilla 2/2 would probably be your worst option, but to be fair, it’s still not bad. Even if CtA gave you 3x 2/2, it would still be a great card.

This card is obviously busted if the right deck for it will be found. I feel like we’re one strong Dragon / Dragon synergy card away from building a deck around it. With the cards we have, it might just not be consistent enough in an Aggro deck with 4-6 Dragons added in (remember that you want to activate it on curve as often as you can), and I can’t really see a slower Dragon Paladin build being too viable.

I have to rate it highly, because I feel that someone will definitely make it work. And when it works, it’s one of the most busted cards in the game. I will give it a 8/10 and not a full 10/10 because activating Dragon synergy on Turn 2 might not be as consistent as some people think, and because it doesn’t synergize that well with CtA. But other than that, it’s flawless.

Card rating: 8/10

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53 Comments

  1. KaihatsuJai
    April 2, 2018 at 3:19 PM

    Maybe Dragon will be a thing… next year after call to arms rotates.
    Call to arms is a terrible idea with this card.
    Which is more powerful? I think we know the answer to that.

  2. Osumatthew
    April 1, 2018 at 8:43 PM

    I guess this might be pretty good in Standard if dragon paladin gets enough incentives to be worth running, but as a Wild player, I’m a little disappointed. I’d think that Annoy-o-tron is far better, because there’s no condition attached and you’re only giving up one attack. I could be wrong, but I’m a little underwhelmed.

    • Dude
      April 2, 2018 at 6:33 AM

      Every single stat point on low cost minions is enormous, as it sets up for better trades –》 board control –》 snow ball potential. IF you get this card to work it’s super powerful. Doesn’t seem like it right now.

  3. MockRock
    April 1, 2018 at 3:09 PM

    Shielded Minibot with upside, god damn. This card is so strong that I think you do try and stuff Dragons into your deck just so you can run it, maybe Paladin makes a return to the midrange strategy it used to use? Call to Arms also isn’t a problem and I wish people would stop bringing that up, very slightly diluting your pool is irrelevant compared to how insane this card is on 2 and even the current CtA lists often get irrelevant 1/2 drop Murlocs that are easy to pick off before they synergize with anything. Not important. What is important is how good this card is, and I look forward to splashing my favourite tribe into my favourite class.

    Also, I really wish The Curator wasn’t rotating. We’ve gotten some absolutely wild possibilities for it this expansion with all the strong beast and dragon support.

  4. Dude
    April 1, 2018 at 1:42 PM

    Seems like they are pushing this whole dragon theme again without the dragons to support it. One expansion later we finally get them and will be so excited that the puzzle finally comes together. # wow!

  5. Gody322
    April 1, 2018 at 9:12 AM

    I hope they print a few good dragons for paladin. Maybe on of the paladin legiondaries will be a dragon.

  6. Lucasato
    April 1, 2018 at 6:04 AM

    Warlock and paladins are probly the best classes to build decks around genn greymane,because when you got turn 10 you gave five turns where always rest 1 mana to use hero power,so you will always summon a silverhand recruit at turns 1,3,5,7 and 9,together another minion…and dragons would the best minions to complete the slots from that deck,fairie dragon,ebon dracosmith,bone drake,maybe deathwing too,and complete the deck with valanyr,tirion,call to arms,kings blessing…soo many op cards to build that deck!

    • Soup And Salad
      April 1, 2018 at 8:13 AM

      I’d hardly call Ebon Dracosmith powerful. It hasn’t done anything since it Knights of the Frozen Thrown was released and giving a weapon class a dragon related tool won’t make it more appealing than Twilight Drake. Sure, you can get a two or four mana Truesilver Champion or Val’anyr respectively, but just playing the Truesilver Champion on turn four does allow you to do something right away, where as playing Dracosmith leaves you with an understated four drop that doesn’t do anything to affect the board when you play it.

      Also, Paladin’s other two cost minions like Argent Protector, Drygultch Jailer, and Hydrologist tend to be better than Faerie Dragon.

      Unless there are some new midgame dragons that are better than Twilight Drake, I doubt a Dragon Paladin let alone an Even Dragon Paladin will be able to take shape. This is a good card and will be a tool in a Dragon Paladin, but it won’t make the deck all by itself like Drakonid Operative pretty much did for Dragon Priest.

      • MockRock
        April 1, 2018 at 3:12 PM

        I don’t agree, this card is just too good not to run in a Paladin deck. I think even just running Primordial Drake and one more in a midrange list is worth it for the sake of getting this card to activate on turn 2, it’s a BETTER. SHIELDED. MINIBOT. You know, arguably the strongest 2-drop ever released?

        • Soup And Salad
          April 1, 2018 at 7:48 PM

          Righteous Protector will usually absorb just as many hits as this will. Yes the power of Shielded Minibot was extremely high, but playing about eight or more (The number of dragons Priest decks with the Dragon Package will usually have) cards that are average at best to ensure this card triggers is unlikely to be worth playing just a very strong two drop.

          This card is unlikely to see serious play during The Witchwood format since there just isn’t a good Dragon Paladin core at this moment, but there should be some point where it will see play if the class gets access to one or two more good dragon synergy cards per expansion.

          • Dude
            April 2, 2018 at 6:39 AM

            You probably need 5-6 dragons in your deck to make this work. What do we got? Scale bane,… primordial drake which is terrible in an aggro deck,… amagalm guy..? Aggro or midrange paladin surely doesn’t fancy twilight drake. You could throw in a fairy dragon, but at that point u need more dragon Synergy to justify all that none-sense.

  7. Soup And Salad
    April 1, 2018 at 6:02 AM

    If Dragon Paladin wasn’t a thing when Blackrock Mountain was in standard, I doubt it’ll be on unless there are at least 3 new early to mid game dragons on the same level of power as Blackwing Corrupter if not higher.

    I do understand Paladin has only gotten two class specific dragon support cards in comparason to Priest’s five, but those cards were still of rather high quality (A cost reducer and a minion spawner) and the number of dragon specific support cards didn’t stop Warrior, a class that only got Alexstrasza’ Champion as their lone dragon support card, from having a dragon deck that dominated the format for a time.

    The card by itself is fine. It is a slightly better Shielded Minibot when the condition is met. However, I’m unsure how much better giving +1/+1 to Righteous Protector is. It’ll usually only be able to take two hits from other minions either way, but it will kill most of the things summoned by Call to Arms at the moment.

    • MockRock
      April 1, 2018 at 4:29 PM

      It’s not “fine,” if the effect goes off it’s absolutely batshit insane. You say “better Shielded Minibot” quite casually, but Shielded Minibot is one of the strongest cards ever made and even WITHOUT the addition of Taunt this card would still be exciting.

      • Soup And Salad
        April 1, 2018 at 7:53 PM

        There is not the card base that will be needed to get this to become a better minibot within Paladin. Priest won’t even have a good enough card base to play Duskbreaker without hindering their deck with under performing cards. This will be the only Paladin exclusive dragon synergy card they will have with The Witchwood is released, and unless there are a ton of good mid and early game dragons that have as of yet to be revealed within this expansion, this will not see play during The Witchwood format.

        If the base is created later on in future expansions, this will be as powerful as it can be, but it won’t be until then.

  8. Vincent
    April 1, 2018 at 2:10 AM

    I give it 1 star, won’t see play.

    • Cursore1610
      April 1, 2018 at 3:55 AM

      Why do you say so? The shielded minibot was like the best two drop in the history of hs and this gargoyle is even better if you play dragons. Of course the shielded minibot today would be so broken because of call to arms and this gargoyle is no the best with Cta, but if you play on turn two is still super solid

      • pretty dense
        April 1, 2018 at 4:08 AM

        because paladin won’t see play in the next expansion

        • fred
          April 1, 2018 at 4:11 AM

          let’s agree to disagree. I’ve never witnessed a season so far in which paladin was bad..

          • im not trolling
            April 1, 2018 at 4:17 AM

            the grand tournament for sure

        • Cursore1610
          April 1, 2018 at 4:15 AM

          That’s arbitrary. They revealed 3 cards and two of them are really good. Paladin is that class that sees play in every patch because of the overpowered cards Uther receives. I mean, call to arms is so op that it is difficult for pala to NOT see play.

          • Vincent
            April 1, 2018 at 6:02 AM

            Paladin will def see play next patch because of cta. However this card is useless with cta and dragon pala has never been a top tier deck.

        • Dude
          April 2, 2018 at 6:43 AM

          I’m pretty sure (aggro) paladin will be around. That said, this card doesn’t have enough support to see play, yet.

      • Meta
        April 1, 2018 at 9:13 AM

        Totem golem might have something to say about that.

  9. billius
    April 1, 2018 at 2:09 AM

    no such thing as dragon pally bliz lel

    • MockRock
      April 1, 2018 at 3:13 PM

      You don’t need to make a full Dragon Paladin, this card is so strong that I suspect just splashing a few Dragons in to trigger it is worth it.

  10. Cursore1610
    April 1, 2018 at 1:48 AM

    I am thinking about a new Tempo Dragon Paladin. The curve with the dragons is pretty insane, but the dragons themselves are not enough. I think that a deck like that would even include the Dragon that makes a weapon in your hand cost less: you could build a kind of midrange/late game orientated Dragon deck with balance ?. If paladin gets more dragons, this gargoyles could be completely busted.

  11. af
    April 1, 2018 at 1:45 AM

    I did not miss shield bot. Hoping dragon pally wont be a thing.

  12. RinMathews
    April 1, 2018 at 12:12 AM

    SHiEldS Up. ENgAgE!

  13. Miltharam
    April 1, 2018 at 12:05 AM

    When i first saw this card i thought is for priests because they play dragon decks now but maybe they add more good paladin dragons.

  14. Miltharam
    April 1, 2018 at 12:02 AM

    When i first saw this card i thought is for priest???

  15. Matt
    March 31, 2018 at 11:36 PM

    Maybe a couple sets down the road when they add a couple more payoff cards for dragon pally.

  16. Matt
    March 31, 2018 at 11:32 PM

    Not the greatest thing to CtA.

  17. Matt
    March 31, 2018 at 11:29 PM

    If this was neutral it would see so much play.

  18. Bladeofsteel
    March 31, 2018 at 11:13 PM

    This card feels very powerful. Maybe genn dragon deck with faerie dragon? Though the curve of this into nightmare amalgam, into twilight drake seems good. Let’s see what else we get. Really wish this was a dragon. Right now 3/5. 5/5 if we get some good paladin dragons.

    • Threather
      March 31, 2018 at 11:24 PM

      Idk, Twilight drake in paladin? You plan on having 8 cards in hand?

      More stronger options are Primordial drake with equality, Scalebane and Nightmale Amalgam. I think you need at least 1 more drake for it to be viable, lets hope.

      • Bladeofsteel
        March 31, 2018 at 11:28 PM

        Dropping a 4/5 drake is still decent, though only on curve with normal, but control dragon pally could work, we still have all the rates, another epic and both legendaries.

        • Sterling90
          March 31, 2018 at 11:33 PM

          This could protect your Primalfin Champions if you were thinking of doing a Lynessa deck. Doing a Genn/Lynessa deck would also ensure you had something to buff with that 1 mana hero power.

          • Sterling90
            March 31, 2018 at 11:33 PM

            Nvm Lynessa is 7 cost whoops

          • Name (Required)
            April 1, 2018 at 3:04 PM

            Your mistake has inspired me to make a Baku Galvadon Lynessa Deck since the upgraded hero power generates plenty of dudes to buff
            but I don’t know how it would work because most buffs are even costed (especially the good ones like Spikeridged Steed and Potion of Heroism)

    • Sterling90
      March 31, 2018 at 11:27 PM

      Yeah, but the thing with faerie dragon is you can’t target it for buffs. Hopefully they’ll be coming out with a cheap neutral (or hopefully) Paladin dragon. If you were to play this on curve with Twilight I don’t think your hand size would give it that much health. Then there’s the dragonslayer you’ll have to worry about. But Yes I agree, hopefully we’ll see some dragons since the old ones are all going to wild.

      • Cursore1610
        April 1, 2018 at 4:03 AM

        Of course faerie Dragon can’t be buffed but in a deck like that I can’t see a lot of buffs happening anyway. The faerie dragon is really good in CtA because he can’t be targeted by the upgraded hero powers with Baku or Genn.

      • Lucasato
        April 1, 2018 at 5:52 AM

        How many games you will play fairie dragon,How many that games you could buff that fairie dragon and How many games it would important enough to you lost alteast a little advantage? And how many times you think the fairie dragon hability will be usefull to be protected from a buffed hero power or some cheap spell(always giving you advantage in the game)?

  19. Orasha
    March 31, 2018 at 11:13 PM

    I’m so glad classes other than Priest are getting Dragon synergy! Even if this never sees play, it’s a good sign.

  20. Sterling90
    March 31, 2018 at 11:08 PM

    Craft those Spellbreakers in Golden boys, looks like we’re in for a Lynessa Pally meta!

    • Matt
      March 31, 2018 at 11:28 PM

      How does this go with lynessa?

      • Sterling90
        April 1, 2018 at 12:50 AM

        My bad, mistakenly thought she was an even card.

        • Hydreichronos
          April 1, 2018 at 4:22 AM

          So? There’s literally nothing stopping you from building a deck with this and Lynessa that *doesn’t* use Genn.

  21. Threather
    March 31, 2018 at 11:08 PM

    Okay so its a battle cry and a decent 2 drop for paladin. in par with Hydrologist.

    There isn’t much Call to Arms synergy but it has pretty good synergy with Scalebane. Amazing.

    • Cursore1610
      April 1, 2018 at 4:12 AM

      I played a lot hidrologist this patch even with call to arms and it’s not that bad. It remains a solid 2/2 body on board and I think that the gargoyle has a better battlecry.

  22. Pindead
    March 31, 2018 at 11:06 PM

    Shielded minibot with conditions