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High Priest Thekal

High Priest Thekal

High Priest Thekal is a 3 Mana Cost Legendary Paladin Minion card from the Rastakhan's Rumble set!

Card Text

Battlecry: Convert all but 1 of your Hero's Health into Armor.

Flavor Text

"…and then I beat him with 1 Health!"

Type
Minion
Rarity
Legendary
Set
Rastakhan's Rumble
Class
Paladin
Cost
3
Attack
3
Health
4
Minion Type
Mechanics
Battlecry
Artist
James Ryman
Collectible
Yes
Rating
4.3/5 (258 votes)

Card Review & Interactions

When reviewing Paladin cards that were healing-related (such as Lesser Pearl Spellstone or Zandalari Templar), I've always mentioned one thing - the biggest issue with those cards is not that Paladin can't heal, but that Paladin can't heal himself when he's at full life. That was always the problem. Less so when playing against Aggro, but slower deck could not deal any damage to you until the mid or even late game, meaning that your healing-related cards could sit dead in your hand - alongside the healing cards themselves.

It seems that Blizzard has finally recognized that issue and printed this card. Thekal is a solid 3-drop even if we just look at its stats - 3/4 for 3 is the best you can get. If we slap a strong, positive effect on a card like that, it should see some play or at least experimentation. And I believe that this effect is indeed very powerful. Turning all of your Health into Armor is huge, despite no immediate gain in terms of life or anything. Armor is superior to Health in almost any way, even if we ignore Warrior synergies. For example, when you're at 30 health, your opponent can Alexstrasza you down to 15. If you're at 1 health + 29 Armor, all he can do it heal you up to 15 (it also works well for your own Alex). 1 health + 29 Armor also means that you can now still heal up to 30, and end up at a maximum of 30 + 29 = nearly 60 life total, making it really hard for some of the combo decks to burst you. And of course, the card will make it easier to activate the healing-related stuff - you can play in a slower matchup and still utilize those cards.

The biggest gripe I have with this card is that it's Legendary. I mean, it's fair for it to be of that rarity, but it reduced the consistency at which you will draw it heavily, and you will really need to make some of the other cards work. And another issue is that Control Paladin still doesn't have a good enough late game win condition thanks to the KFT Death Knights. The card is good, but probably still not good enough to bring the deck back. I think that we'll honestly have to wait until the next rotation before Control Paladin will make some sense.

P.S. And yes, in Wild you can drop it + 2x Molten Giant on Turn 2 with Coin. But the combo is such inconsistent that I really doubt that anyone would build a deck around it. It will be a nice clip to show on a highlight reel, though.

Card rating: 8/10, but I feel like Control Paladin will still be too weak because the class lacks a way to close out the games in the late game.

62 Comments

  1. MrPoison

    Coin this on turn 2, turn 3 two 8/8 molten giants, imnot playing wild for a while i guess...

    1. matsiv

      nope,it's "convert" not damage

      1. Julion

        If it's convert how do you heal??? It's a turn 3 or 2(coin) free molten giants at the same turn i guess

    2. Indy

      Haha you don't even have to wait for turn 3, you can drop both molten giants t2, lovely.. Pretty sick card in control pally too, so easy to heal up again with kangor, wickerflame, ziliax, 2x corpsetaker etc. Also nice in wild reno control and synergizes well with the new 4 mana 8/8 taunt. Who knows enough to make it viable

  2. Omnitarian

    Paladin has always been "a healing class", but those cards got left behind because Pally was topped off on health anyway. His early game is actually pretty good, meaning your hero didn't take enough damage to, say, proc the healing off of Truesilver Champion. This card, obviously, changes that- it's a roundabout way to let Paladin "overheal". And sets you up for a *chefs kiss* Alexstraza turn, too.

    Also, now we know why Molten Giant was moved to wild.

    Also also, the armor gain here is so dramatic that we proooobably won't be getting a tech card against armor like I've always wanted :(

    1. Joseph269

      There SHOULD be a tech card that combats armor (gain) since many classes gain armor (Druid, Warrior, now Paladin)

      1. Amethonys

        Druid is losing all of its armor gain barring ferocious howl when the format changes in 3 months.

  3. Logician

    9 mana for this (at full health) + Reno = 29 armor with no health change

    9 mana for this (at 10 health) + Reno = 9 armor + 20 health gain

    9 mana for this (at 1 health [terrible idea] + Reno = normal 29 health gain

    Either way you play it your gaining 29 effective health for 9 mana, that's pretty dang good, but I can also see this being part of an extremely strong heal pally with glass knight & stuff to just gain 29 armor for 3 mana & heal it back up. This card may not see a lot of play, but in the right deck it will shine.

    Although, if you get rushed down & can't manage to gain life consistently, this will be completely useless as without life gain it results in no effective health change.

    1. Pengun

      Even though it's even a 3 mana 3/4

  4. Vulpem96

    I'm not sure... Molten giant counts how much damage your hero has taken. This card explicitaly says "convert". Maybe it isn't dealing damage, but something else...?

    If it is like this, this combo shouldn't be possible.

    1. Desolasty

      As you can see in the reveal video, your remaining hp is set to one so Molten Giant will work

      1. Joseph269

        It won't because the wording is off, and High Priest Thekal states convert, and since Molten Giant states "one less for each damage TAKEN" it will not work.

        1. Orasha

          Again, that's how the card reads but is not how it actually works. If Molten Giant worked the way you suggest, taking 20 damage over the course of a game would discount it to 0 for the entire match, even if you healed back to full. But it doesn't work like that: it only checks your the damage your hero CURRENTLY has sustained when it's in your hand.

    2. Orasha

      Molten Giant reads that way but it actually only checks your hero’s current health, so you should be able to play them for free after dropping Thekal.

    3. Skyscale

      Even if molten giant worked like that (it probably does), it would be a dead draw until you find your thekal. It would have antisinergy with every healing card in your deck

    4. Joseph269

      You're right, this card won't affect Molten Giant at all

  5. DukeStarswisher

    I love everything about this card. It opens up so many possibilities. Can't wait to try it out!

  6. Jed

    This card is exactly what healadin needed thks blizzard daddy OwO

    5/5

  7. nickus

    We finally got what heal paladin needed. Not beeing able to heal above 30 health was always a huge problem for heal paladin decks in the past. This opens so many possibilities. I love this card: it's design and it's flavour are fantastic. On the side note, new card Zandalari templar looks amazing now that Thekal has been revealed.

  8. Soup And Salad

    I understand the point behind High Priest Thekal, but his effect is extremely niche. Paladin does have quite a few health restoring cards, but the deck that currently exists that might of been interested in playing this, Even Paladin, is locked out of the card entirely.

    This is the sort of unique and exciting effect I like seeing on legendary cards, and it will likely have some implications in Wild where Reno still runs around. However, the long term value the card wants you to get won't even start to be developed until quite a while after you'd play this on curve.

    This probably won't work out during this next standard format.

  9. MilesTegF

    I think this card is really strong, the main problem with paladin heal synergies, is that a lot of cards are useless if you are toped off, but with this, cards like Benevolent Dijinn, the Pearl spellstones, cristal knight, truesilver champion or even holy light seem a lot stronger.
    The last month i've been playing a Control Paladin with some of these cards and in such a deck, Thekal fits perfectly.

  10. ResidentStandard

    Paladin doesn't need something like this, Paladin needs more board clears. Again a bad card, armor won't do much against a full board.

    1. williamebf

      I disagree alot

      1. ResidentStandard

        My Reno Paladin agrees to disagree.

    2. Thraben

      You clearly don't understand the point of this card *facepalm* Paladin being driven to more control side is exactly what we need, I'm sick and tired of Paladin being viable only as some braindead aggro deck that even a monkey can play.

      1. ResidentStandard

        Exactly, Reno, Ragnaros the Lightlord, DK, and much more cards are more than enough for healing, we need board clears for N'Zoth and Warlock DK!!

        1. SkywardStryk

          Something to remember is nobody gives a shit about Wild... the competitive atmosphere is standard.

        2. williamebf

          The problem is they dont heal unless you take dmg and that is super bad in control paladin vs control

    3. MockRock

      The purpose of this card is to allow you to overheal, it's a counter card to OTK decks. Which Paladin has never had access to before.

  11. Triangular

    My good lord, I L.O.V.E this card.

  12. Chessman from Mars

    I think everyone is over rating this card. I give it a 3 because it's a 3/4 for 3.

  13. Greg

    Wow, good stat line on a 3 drop. At best gain 29 armor, room to heal back up. This is a wicked concept! Regis Kilbin was close with his prediction too lol. This set looks cool, can we just play it yet?

    1. Jonnymeerkat

      Patience, young padawon.

  14. 3xZut

    I like the potential of it. Lifesteal cards will increase in value on such a deck, Lay on arms and the Tiger, with glass knight, the quest, and Lynessa and obviously the DK.
    That's a good antifatigue tool too, if tou get the opoortunity to heal back up.
    But before screaming 'control paladin is on its way' it will need other tools to play against combo decks whether druids or shaman, or warlocks and that single card.if not enough to counter mechthun or togwaggle

  15. Joseph269

    It seems like a cool concept to heal up to 30 after having around 29 armor, but it's highly unreasonable and difficult to heal to 29. If that IS the case, then Zandalari Templar should be insanely powerful

    1. For the Alliance and the Light

      Reno Jackson can do it in one flash

      1. Joseph269

        Exactly!

  16. Max Fahlén

    It can be played in Odd paladin also because it doesn't deal damage to you, just ways to get more life than you usually does. Now odd paladin do not really need more hp than 30 if we don't change the way Odd paladin but they are still getting a 3M 3/4 that can give you positive outcomes. I rate this 5/5

  17. Colin

    I like this card a lot and I think it will help make healing Paladin work a lot better. I've been messing around with an Even Health Paladin lately for fun, and the problem is a lot of the lifegain cards don't work early because you haven't taken damage, especially versus control. This totally fixes that, while being a legend so it won't happen all the time. The Paladin spellstones can be pretty fun.

    1. Riptide

      I've tried to make Heal Pally work and it's tough. There is good synergy between crystallizer and crystalology. It helps to get that -5hp +5armor which can kickstart healing.

  18. LeonardoFRei

    This + Reno will be fun in wild

  19. ben

    put down time out first then this, that will give you 60 health, would be a great combo

    1. Netheferious

      It says convert. It says nothing about damage.

  20. Orasha

    Crystallizer: "who are you?"

    Thekal: "i'm you but stronger"

  21. Pokan

    If I play this and then Crystallizer would I die for dropping below 1 health?

    1. For the Alliance and the Light

      No, because the 5 damage from crystallizer would hit the armor
      However, if your original health was below 5, I think you will die

  22. Ogrelord

    this officially makes heal pally viable lol

  23. Dark

    Wild here i come

  24. WSCScourge

    Oh my God. This card is insane for the Hesladin.

  25. crapcrack

    1. great stats 2. great effect. Amazing card

  26. sina

    so this is 3 mana 3 4 and x2 lava giant sometime on turn 2 and turn 3 .wow this card is the craziest card i ever seen

    1. Nofoodforu97

      Not how it works, picture it like Jaraxxus, your max health would be 1 so you haven't taken any damage

      1. Anodyne

        Picture Alextraza which changes your current HP but not you maximum.

      2. Ani

        Molten giant costs 1 less for each health you are below 30, not actually how much damage you've taken

  27. Jawsborn

    While the card is perfect for “heal Paladin” to enable self healing, I doubt this will suddenly make the deck viable. In 1/2 of games you won’t draw this until turn 10 or later, and as it stands “heal Paladin” is more of an aggro deck. This card isn’t awesome for healadin, but I highly doubt that this 1 card will suddenly make the deck viable.

    1. Jawsborn

      This card *is* awesome for healadin^^^

  28. Kevin :D

    We need an armor penetration damage card lul

    1. MilesTegF

      i think a card that ignores armor and goes straight to health would probably be bad for the game, however, i think they could make minions, spells or weapons, that make extra dmg to armor (like a weapon with a text "deal double dmg to armor" or something like that)

  29. Fatsbourne

    If this card REALLY does what it says it would counter a "healing" Paladin strategy, because your health would be converted to armor, which would set your health to 1. This card is a nice body for 3 mana, that's it.

    1. MilesTegF

      From a video i saw on youtube, it seems that is not the case.
      When you use this card if you are at 30HP, you are left with 1HP (Red) and 29 armor.
      Since the HP is red it means you can heal it up. For example cards that set a minion HP to 1 (like Equality) they leave the minion with 1HP (White) so you can't heal it up. If it where like you say, it would probably be written as "set your health to 1, convert the lost HP into armor" or something like that.

      1. Dennis_gunther

        So is it in german. It is a bad translation.

  30. Never forget Bolf

    Hidden passive : always start at the bottom of your deck

Comments are closed.