Lone Champion

Lone Champion Card

Lone Champion is a 3 Mana Cost Rare Neutral Minion card from the Kobolds and Catacombs set!

Card Text

Battlecry: If you control no other minions, gain Taunt and Divine Shield.

Flavor Text

He is a champion, with no friends. He'll keep on fighting, til the end!

Lone Champion Card Review

What I really love about this card is that is shows Blizzard’s ability to learn from the past. It’s easy to think that Tar Creeper was meant as a control card and it’s adoption by aggro decks was an unintended byproduct of its defensive powers that allow those decks to protect their threats, however the truth is that we can never know that this was not an intended use, on top of being a defensive option for slower decks. Whether it’s intentional or an honest “mistake” is up in the air, however if Team 5 was caught by surprise with the Creeper, they certainly took all precautions with Lone Champion. His “if you control no other minions” clause makes him abysmal in fast decks, because they are looking to get onto the board immediately and a vanilla 2/4 for 3 is not what aggro wants to be playing.

As far as slower decks go, will this see play over Tar Creeper? It’s hard to say. Technically, the Divine Shield counts as at least one point of health, so realistically it’s more like a 2/5 with Taunt for 3 mana, which is not all that bad. The big question here is the attack. On the defense, Creeper has 3 attack, which makes it stack up against the vast majority of early threats, killing aggro’s 1/3s and 3/3s, as well as trading completely with 2/3 minions that see play, along the lines of ArcanologistLone Champion‘s 2 attack means that it’s often going to get value traded into, without actually killing most things that will be running into it. On the other hand, it has more attack than Creeper when on the offense, so it’s a lot better at retaliating and trading on its own. It’s also a lot better later in the game, when it can soak up multiple hits from large minions. All in all, it looks like an interesting alternative to Tar Creeper and depending on what you need, you will be playing one or the other… or in some cases both. Highlander decks will love the option to play a second Creeper and in some cases the Divine Shield can be an upside, such as if Divine Shield Paladin becomes a deck, though it’s fairly likely to be a deck that plays too many minion to have Lone Champion enabled.

Card Review by Chimbarozo

Leave a Reply

29 Comments

  1. Xander Raidon
    November 24, 2017 at 1:48 AM

    This card’s nuts in Handbuff Pally. Turn 2: Play Outfiter, Turn 3: Trade your Outfiter into any enemy minion and play this for a 3 mana 3/5 Divine Shield + Taunt, guaranteed to win you back the board unless Shadow Word: Pain.

    • KaihatsuJai
      November 26, 2017 at 5:12 AM

      Interesting thought.
      Except playing Outfitter on turn 2 is weak because buffs should never be played until at least the 3rd turn.
      I’d play this 3rd turn before buffing actually. Or with a buff or accompanying minion from Small-Time Recruits on the 4th.

  2. Random
    November 23, 2017 at 7:54 PM

    I think this card is fine in arena but this is just another hyldnir frost rider or mysterious statue(I’m sorry I forgot it’s name ?) so in other words… ?????

  3. TardisGreen
    November 22, 2017 at 12:01 PM

    This card seems similar to, but weaker than, Hylander Frostrider, a card that is good in Arena, but sees no play in constructed. And neither will Lone Champion.

    • chocobo
      November 22, 2017 at 12:38 PM

      lolz are you nuts ?
      You realize your opponent can just chose to ignore a non taunt minion right ?
      whats next comparing it to Mukla ?
      The only card this can be compared to is Tar Creeper at the moment.And both are really good.
      Based on the situation this can be a better option.
      But i think tar creeper is still better overall.

      • TardisGreen
        November 22, 2017 at 3:12 PM

        What does Mukla have to do with this? This card is similar to Frostrider in that it is OPTIIMAL to play when you have no minions on board. Mukla does not fit that category.

        The downside of Frostrider stops it from seeing play, despite the fact that it will often trade 2 for 1, and is a difficult card for Priest to remove.

        The downside of Lone Champion is that it is a piece of crap whenever you have a minion on board.

        Hence, it will see NO PLAY. You can LOLZ, all you want. The card is non competitive.

        • whitenerdy
          November 22, 2017 at 4:10 PM

          Think about it this way: both cards want to be played when you have no board, which makes them bad for aggressive decks, hence they should be defensive tools. A 3 mana vanilla 4/4 is a really bad defensive tool, while a 2/4 with divine shield and taunt will most times be pretty good. I agree with chocobo that I would still rather play tar creeper in most cases, but this card is absolutely better than frostrider by a HUGE margin.

  4. Peter
    November 22, 2017 at 11:48 AM

    Good comeback card from a slow start, makes a more consistent deck?

  5. Meta
    November 22, 2017 at 10:53 AM

    This card is overrated. It’s counter intuitive in aggro because you should have minions on the board by turn 3. If you don’t, then your already behind. Compare this to tar creeper, which always gives you taunt regardless of whether you control the board or not. I only see this card being used in control decks, like after your doomsayer goes off on turn 2. 3 out of 5 stars here.

    • Kenchilada
      November 22, 2017 at 12:10 PM

      This card’s design makes it bad in aggro. What the fuck, Blizzard? 0/5

      • kento3285
        November 22, 2017 at 10:10 PM

        Lol, salt, yeah I agree, nice to see a small focus on control that aggro can’t take advantage of too.

  6. David Cruz Conesa
    November 22, 2017 at 10:24 AM

    I don’t belive it can be better that tar creeper, it’s slightly better if you can use the battlecry UT far worst other spots.

  7. Dudududu
    November 22, 2017 at 9:52 AM

    Better tar creeper against both Aggro and Control, of you pull out the battlecray

  8. Crapcrack
    November 22, 2017 at 9:46 AM

    Wow what a great control card

  9. Warhog
    November 22, 2017 at 9:37 AM

    Great card better than Tar Creeper if you can pull off the battlecry but most of the time Tar Creeper is always a 3/5 taunt whereas this guy is a 2/4 for 3 mana when you have minions on board
    Come to think of it this guy is great follow up after clearing the board

  10. SundayGary
    November 22, 2017 at 9:36 AM

    A control card comparable to tar creeper, but hopefully done in a way in which you can’t just jam it into aggro.

  11. Magic Pants
    November 22, 2017 at 9:17 AM

    This won’t be as powerful as corpsetaker in contructed, however this will be an arena powerhouse for sure. (Think rogue when you can get away with just equiping dagger on turn 2)

  12. Henceforth
    November 22, 2017 at 8:09 AM

    This is like the Corpsetaker but better D:

    • Henceforth
      November 22, 2017 at 8:10 AM

      You have a 2 minion like prince, take it with Shadowstep, put this card and put it again gg.

      • Kevin
        November 22, 2017 at 8:47 AM

        Every prince deck plays a ton of one drops though… This guy is great for handlock or control warlock style decks.

  13. Questioning Person
    November 22, 2017 at 8:05 AM

    Question: Those who gain taunt on play, do they count to warrior quest?

    • Answering Person
      November 22, 2017 at 8:11 AM

      If it interacts the same way as Corpsetaker which I pressume it does, It does not count, nor is brought back by Hadronox. Hope thats accurate

      • Person With New Knowledge
        November 22, 2017 at 8:32 AM

        Okay thank you for the reply.

        • All0is0Dust
          November 22, 2017 at 1:33 PM

          Really? lol So you made three accounts just to do this?

          • Person With Answer For All0is0Dust
            November 22, 2017 at 2:05 PM

            No the “Answering Person” is not me.
            And it’s not accounts. You can type new name everytime, if you are not a member.

          • Person who has it all figured out
            November 22, 2017 at 3:02 PM

            All of the replies in this thread are from the same person, and that person is me. Thank you all for playing, and better luck next time.

    • kento3285
      November 22, 2017 at 10:15 PM

      LOL, awesome convo, but to clarify, a TAUNT, BATTLECRY, DEATHRATTLE,… Etc minion means the normal card text states it unconditionally before it’s even in a deck.