Paragon of Light

Paragon of Light Card

Paragon of Light is a 3 Mana Cost Rare Paladin Minion card from the The Witchwood set!

Card Text

While this minion has 3 or more Attack, it has Taunt and Lifesteal.

Flavor Text

She’s all fun and games until someone rings that stupid bell.

Paragon of Light Card Review

Seems like a card with high potential, but it might be a bit hard to activate it.

Let’s start with the stats. 2/5 for 3 is a good stat-line. While it’s low on the Attack side, the high health makes it difficult to remove. At the same time, let’s remember that it starts off as a vanilla minion, with no extra effects, which means that you want to drop it by itself only if you’re pretty sure that it will survive or you need to contest the board right away.

Now let’s talk about the upside. Lifesteal by itself is not that great. To be honest, no Lifesteal minions has seen play ONLY because it has Lifesteal. However, Lifesteal + Taunt is probably the best combination, as your opponent will often be forced to bump a few minions to take it down, healing you for lots of health.

But how easy it is to activate the effect? Since it starts at 2 Attack, all you need to do is give it +1 Attack. You can either do it permanently through a buff, or temporarily through e.g. a minion like Dire Wolf Alpha, but the buff option is more probable. Even a simple Divine Strength is enough to make it a 3/7 Taunt with Lifesteal. It also curves nicely into Blessing of Kings, which would make it a massive 6/9 Taunt with Lifesteal on Turn 4.

Biggest issue I have with this card is that such stat-line and effect seems to fit into a Control deck. But Control decks don’t really play buffs other than Spikeridged Steed, which already gives minion Taunt, so it’s a bit counter-productive. On the other hand, faster decks, those that play cheaper buffs or buffs that don’t give Taunt (e.g. BoK), those decks don’t really take advantage of this kind of effect.

In Wild, I could totally see this in a handbuff Paladin deck. Just after +1/+1, it becomes a 3/6 Taunt with Lifesteal for 3 mana – pretty insane in faster matchups where the healing can be good.

In Standard? Really hard to say. If Buff Paladin will become a thing, like the Quest version, it might make sense. Or maybe if some kind of Midrange Paladin running other buffs than Steed pops out.

In the end, the card might be really strong in the right deck, but I feel like there might be no deck it will fit into (in Standard, at least).

Card rating: 6/10

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48 Comments

  1. Mender
    April 9, 2018 at 8:26 am

    *Cough* Dire wolf alpha Acherus Keleseth *Cough*

  2. Addy
    April 9, 2018 at 6:44 am

    If this card gets the buff would that mean the spellstone is now a viable card?

  3. Aernath
    April 9, 2018 at 6:32 am

    Umm, Keleseth activates it too. Maybe a Keleseth aggro or midrange deck?

    • Fatmexican
      April 12, 2018 at 8:42 am

      Keleseth in a class were call to arms is the best card? No.

  4. Malganath
    April 9, 2018 at 5:03 am

    Dire wolf alpha will trigger it too

    • Goompro
      April 9, 2018 at 6:11 am

      Wow. Didn’t think of that. Aggro pally will be even stronger now…

      • Max
        April 9, 2018 at 9:47 am

        Lol. They lose to much to be Good for just a synergy that aint that good

      • Lucasato
        April 11, 2018 at 1:15 pm

        i love these sarcastic comments,thanks dude xD

  5. GlosuuLang
    April 9, 2018 at 2:30 am

    It’s a very average 3-drop without synergy, but with synergy it’s obviously one of the best 3-drops in the game. You normally want to play this with Dire Wolf Alpha on board, or with a Blessing of Kings in hand. Still, Taunt and Lifesteal help for a midrange-y deck, they’re not really THAT useful if you’re going Aggro Paladin. Rating it 3.5/5 stars, not more because I don’t think you can have reliable synergy every single game.

    • flagkeeper
      April 9, 2018 at 4:49 am

      aggro in 2018?

      • GlosuuLang
        April 9, 2018 at 4:54 am

        Hey, Aggro Paladin has been the deck with highest winrate in ladder after the nerfs in KnC. It will presumably lose its spot after rotation, but who knows? There’s almost always been a T1 aggro deck around. Baku Face Hunter could be the one this time around. We’ll see.

  6. DeadlyPants
    April 9, 2018 at 12:39 am

    Here’s my question; if you somehow, some way buff this to 3 attack while it’s in your deck, will that new curator pull it out, as it now has lifesteal? I feel like it should, but it’s one of those things blizzard hasn’t been too consistent with in the past

    • dynasty
      April 9, 2018 at 1:24 am

      buff with keleseth

    • iSuez
      April 9, 2018 at 1:54 am

      I don’t think so. I think it works the same way as spikeridged steed + N’Zoth. It’s technically a deathrattle, but nit a deathrattle minion

    • cypher
      April 9, 2018 at 2:12 am

      If the changes apply while in your deck, it will pull it out. So most likely it will work that way.

    • Xix
      April 9, 2018 at 4:36 am

      Interesting question, guess you will have to test it to be sure. But i dont think you should build a deck were if minions get buffed, get drawn by a card.

  7. Alsozatch
    April 8, 2018 at 11:19 pm

    Fantastic for fending off midrange pally’s biggest weakness, aggro. Imagine you are an aggro player, and your opponent plays this. It poses a huge threat; you either go face and risk the pally buffing it and healing back all that damage, or you trade your board into it. This is key for midrange paladin, which can already fend off control decks with equality combos, vinecleaver, and tarim. In wild, we may see a rise in the beardo, uther, lynessa paladin deck.

  8. berrystrife
    April 8, 2018 at 10:11 pm

    A better phrasing would be “While this minion’s attack is greater than 2…”

    • Goompro
      April 8, 2018 at 10:49 pm

      Even better:
      “While this minion has 3 or more attack…”

    • Stonekeep - Site Admin
      April 9, 2018 at 12:42 am

      Sorry, we’ll upload the official translation once we stumble upon one, but right now I’m fixing it until we get a better one.

  9. Earthrouge
    April 8, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    I knew disenchanting my golden Tyrantus for Lynessa at the start of KnC was going to be worth it.

  10. DnDumbasses
    April 8, 2018 at 8:28 pm

    This on turn 3, then on turn 4 Toll the Bells x2 for a 4/9 lifesteal taunt.

    • DnDumbasses
      April 8, 2018 at 8:30 pm

      *sound the bells

      • Jonathan
        April 8, 2018 at 9:16 pm

        7 mana and 3 cards for a 4/9 taunt is not very good. And who cares about lifesteal on turn 4 if you didn’t equip a weapon on turns 3 or 4?

        • Jonathan
          April 8, 2018 at 9:17 pm

          7 mana and 2 cards*

        • Killer Lord
          April 9, 2018 at 12:26 am

          You might care about lifesteal vs agro

          • judgerudge
            April 9, 2018 at 12:52 am

            You guys say this, but we pay 9 mana for a 4/8 life steal taunt… Sure it has a deathrattle effect, but getting this guy down 5 turns earlier and its a 4/9 is going to be a huge problem for aggro going forwards 🙂

    • Iplitan
      April 8, 2018 at 10:44 pm

      or just play it on t4 using that 1-mana buff that hasn’t seen play on years to make it a 4 mana 3/7 with taunt and lifesteal, cheaper but only worth in arena

      • Yggdreigon
        April 8, 2018 at 10:56 pm

        that buff is from whispers of the old gods so it’s rotating out

  11. Miagamus
    April 8, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    The new Paladin echo card will do the trick.
    Also lifesteal on it then sets up a heal which gives crystal knight his divine shield back.

    Buff/Divine shield Lynessadon incoming.

    • Miagamus
      April 8, 2018 at 8:20 pm

      I think Blood knight will be making a big return in this next meta.

  12. Css09
    April 8, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    Incoming Shattered Sun Cleric meta xD

  13. Bladeofsteel
    April 8, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    This card is weird, it’s like a control card, but it needs support from aggressive cards.
    I could maybe see it as a turn 3 play after wolf, or maybe in aggro paladin with schedule veteran.

    • SkywardStryk
      April 8, 2018 at 8:18 pm

      I wouldn’t say many buffs are aggressive cards, other than Blessing of Might.

      • Bladeofsteel
        April 8, 2018 at 9:13 pm

        Well steed seems like too much to put on this, as it already has taunt, blessing of the kings is usually in aggressive lists. Direwolf, and unidetified maul is usually in aggressive lists. Blessing of might sees almost no play. Acherus veteran sees play in aggro paladin, I think this card actually could work there as they have enough buffs. You don’t really see any buffs in control except steed, but maybe this card could change that.

        This card actually could be really good with sword of justixe, but it would take a lot for that card to see play.

        • SkywardStryk
          April 8, 2018 at 9:23 pm

          I think it’s just the final card they might’ve needed to push quest Paladin.

          • Bladeofsteel
            April 8, 2018 at 9:30 pm

            We will see if Brian kibler makes it giant. He loves that deck lol.

          • StarPlatnum
            April 8, 2018 at 11:16 pm

            Galvadon, the last Kaleidosaur
            He’s got stealth and a whole lot more
            Galvadon, the last Kaleidosaur
            He’s not that bad if you don’t die turn 4

        • Lucasato
          April 9, 2018 at 3:06 am

          Blessing of kings is both a aggressive card and a tempo card,liked a 4/4 charge minion,so yeah,you can put it into a midrange,control or even combo deck without problem…secondly:Paladin have a lot of targets to silence,more than another classes,and your opponent will have only two silence cards if him would use it,so these girl will be silenced or destroyed very rarely times if you consider you will play it as a 2/5 just for tempo(trading board) or as a big minion in late game

      • Mender
        April 9, 2018 at 8:26 am

        *Cough* Dire wolf alpha Acherus Keleseth *Cough*

  14. Threather
    April 8, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    This card is nice.

    3 mana 2/5 stats with paladin handbuff + boardbuff synergy.

    Can be used to heal or contest board, 2/5 is not that easy to deal with turn 3.

    Obvious synergies: 9 mana this + spikeridge. This into tarim. Quest Paladin.

    4/5 just because it wont fit in all decks, good 3 drop for paladin aside stonehill though.

    • Morei
      April 8, 2018 at 9:59 pm

      Sorry to blow your party hat off, but the handbuffs that Paladin have right now will go away with all of the Gadgetzan set, it’s the only set that featured handbuffs (I think), unless you’re talking about wild, then sure. 🙂

  15. Soup And Salad
    April 8, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    This is definitely an interesting card, and the cost flows nicely into Blessing of Kings, which has been seeing some play as of late. The 2/5 statline is very solid as is and will be able to trade into much of what Paladins will pull out of Call to Arms and much of the early game Zoolock core. Too bad the easiest way of getting this to 3 attack, the hand buffing cards, are leaving standard for the most part.

    This will see play when buff cards see play, especially is a better Blessing of Kings comes along. The only buff card you won’t want to give this is maybe Spikeridge Steed since this’ll gain taunt anyway. Perhaps this will find its way into a Midrange style Paladin in The Witchwood format.

    Very solid card.

  16. Blitz
    April 8, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    Galvadon’s Other Waifu. #lynessaisbae
    I’m thinking this on 3, blessing of kings on 4 to make a 6/9 taunt lifesteal.

    • Piterno
      April 8, 2018 at 8:13 pm

      Or on turn 9 with Steed is a 9 mana 4/11 taunt lifesteal that summons a 2/6 on death.

      • Yggdreigon
        April 8, 2018 at 10:58 pm

        or a 2/5 with nothing as it gets silenced

        • Piterno
          April 8, 2018 at 11:04 pm

          Calling a card useless just because silence is a mechanic is stupid. If you have this out on curve then most decks can’t handle it unless they run 2 of every silence they have access to. Repeat: Most.