Jan'alai, the Dragonhawk
Jan'alai, the Dragonhawk is a 7 Mana Cost Legendary Mage Minion card from the Rastakhan's Rumble set!
Card Text
Battlecry: If your Hero Power
dealt 8 damage this game,
summon Ragnaros the
Firelord.@ ({0} left!)@ (Ready!)
Flavor Text
You mess with the Bird, you get the Firelord.
- Type
- Minion
- Rarity
- Legendary
- Set
- Rastakhan's Rumble
- Class
- Mage
- Cost
- 7
- Attack
- 4
- Health
- 4
- Minion Type
- Beast
- Mechanics
- Battlecry, Summon
- Artist
- Jakub Kasper
- Collectible
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.6/5 (1012 votes)
Card Review & Interactions
This card seems really, and I mean really powerful. Ragnaros the Firelord was so omnipresent that Blizzard decided to Hall of Fame it. At 8 mana, it was played in multiple Midrange and Control decks all over the ladder (similarly to how The Lich King is played right now). What if you could play it for 7 mana? With a 4/4 body on top of it? Well, that's like having a Spiteful Summoner high-roll without having to build a Spiteful Summoner deck at all!
Yes, the card has its condition. Obviously. It would be beyond broken if it didn't. And here's the thing. In regular Mage decks, such as Big Spell Mage, this kind of condition basically restricts this card from seeing play. Then, if you start putting Hero Power synergies and boosters to your deck (Spirit of the Dragonhawk, Daring Fire-Eater), you make this card more consistent, but your deck more and more clunky overall. Will a pay-off of having such a strong 7 mana play be enough for players to do it? Hard to say, I'm personally not sure.
But there is one deck that can run Jan'alai without really sacrificing anything. By just playing the way it's playing anyway. That deck is Odd Mage. It was first pushed slightly in The Witchwood with Black Cat - a very strong card if you happen to not play any Even-costed card. The problem was that some of the best Mage cards are Even, so running an Odd deck decreases your average card quality by A LOT. That, plus there's not that much synergy going on with your Hero Power. Boomsday Project didn't change that much, it added Stargazer Luna, which is a strong 3 mana play, but nothing to really boost the deck's viability. But it seems that Rastakhan's Rumble is pushing this theme much harder. Pyromaniac, for example, is a really solid Odd Mage card. 2 damage Hero Power makes it much easier to trigger its effect, and 3/4 stats for 3 mana are pretty okay. Then, there's something like Daring Fire-Eater, which makes the combo even easier, but more importantly, it makes Jan'alai even easier to get. Yes, because Jan'alai is the ultimate Odd Mage synergy card. It costs 7, so it fits right in. The requirement is to deal 8 damage with your Hero Power - which basically means using your Hero Power 4 times. In a deck built around the Hero Power. If you play just a single Daring Flame-Eater, it reduces the number of necessary Hero Powers to 3 - which should basically mean that playing Jan'alai on curve is something you might be able to do quite consistently. And a 4/4 + Ragnaros on Turn 7 is definitely a massive win condition.
I'm not sure if those are all of the cards that Odd Mage might want to play this expansion. If it is, then the deck might still might be one or two steps from being viable. To be honest, some Odd-costed single target removal would go a long way, since the deck can't play Frostbolt, Fireball or Polymorph. But in general, I see the deck's potential and I will definitely experiment with it at the start of next expansion.
Jan'alai is obviously a very powerful card. I won't give it 10/10, because it might still be a bit difficult to trigger it, but any deck that will be able to deal 8 damage with Hero Power by the late game will DEFINITELY play it.
Card rating: 9/10
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47 Comments
Desolasty
DIE INSECT
YellowDude
In Odd mage this only requires 4 uses of your hero power but with the new 1 mana 1/1 (assuming you play both) it only requires you ping twice
what in the name of all that is good is this card
Liam
They're really pushing Odd Mage this expansion huh? But in all seriousness, I'm glad Mage is getting some love this time around since they've been getting nothing but trash these last two expansions.
Ivan
Broken
sonriks6
META DEFINING!
DukeStarswisher
I am very excited to play odd mage!
At once or total?
Do they mean deal at mana with one use? or total? because if it's total then this is a real useful card.
Liam
It's damage total. Odd Mage for example, only has to ping 4 times in order to activate this card
Pirate Ragnaros
This sounds real good then, going to include it in all my wild decks with DK mage.
Never hurts to have two ragnaros.
MockRock
Ragnaros a turn early with a 4/4 attached...wow. This wouldn't single-handedly make you play Odd Mage, but the deck is already on the fringes of viability, and this might be the boost that puts it over the top. It's also worth nothing that you COULD just throw it in a control deck that uses Jaina as an extra bit of extreme late game grind, but I doubt that'll end up being a good idea. This is clearly intended for Odd Mage, and if that deck works, this'll be in it 100% of the time.
Jed
TOO SOON, YOU HAVE AWAKEN ME TOO SOON EXECU-
WHO ARE YOU? A BIRD?
6/5 I don’t even play mage
Marcus
Imagine if hunter somehow got ahold of this card... their hero power deals damage also.
Liam
I just found my reason to run Jeweled Macaw
DeadlyPants
So does Warlock, funnily enough : D
Ro
Also, you can be patience and wait for turn 7 and play this with Zola
Ro
Turn 10 i mean *
Fareh
Seems good, doesnt work...
It would need at least 3 or 4 turns of doing nothing but ping to be activated, so this is is like "your opponent takes 4 extra turns and you summon Ragnaros".
For the Alliance and the Light
Not necessarily, combined with the spirit and the fire eater, you may just have to use it once to trigger the Ragnaros
TautAnemone
Question
The damage deal with the hero power count even if the card is in the deck?
Or you need to have it in your hand?
Stonekeep
It counts while it's still in your deck, that's why it says "this game".
Jonnymeerkat
Given the other cards revealed and the options for odd mage (or heck, even mage) can somehow explain how this is not broken?
Is it exactly 8 damage? Or at least 8? If it’s at least 8 I don’t see how this isn’t OP.
SkywardStryk
You know that’s a really good point
Stonekeep
It's at least, not exactly.
Finearel
It is definitely not op, Hero powering is such a low tempo that it compensates for the Ragnoros. And while Ragnoros is obviously a pretty powerful card it still is random and won’t do much again a board full of small minions.
Telim Tor
You can't use Janalai in a even deck, because cost 7
Azog
Oh my lord. He is back! I wonder if a golden card will summon golden Ragnaros? Thats epic.
CypherC
Yes it will, golden cards summon other golden cards. That's how it always has been in hearthstone.
FierceDeity64!
You could literally have this done on turn 3 if opponent has three creatures in play and you played spirit on t2 and play the new 1/1 on turn 3 and hero power. Even if the opponent has only 1 or 2 creatures, that still doesn't seem like the worst play.
3xZut
Seems solid, combo well with Luna's Galaxy, Automatron and the 1/1 that gives +2 to your here power theoretically you could complete the condition in 1 turn. And whatsoever, doesn't seem to dificult with the above stated cards
Sound like a win more card though
MilesTegF
Love it, seeing the new mage cards, Jan'Alai's condition should be easy enough to complete before T7. At first i thought of Odd Mage, but i think it will actually be easier to pull with regular mage using Spirit of the Dragonhawk + Daring Fire-eater. Even if you don't have 3 targets, having only 2 you can make 6 dmg on T3, and with that it should not be difficult to do another 2 dmg before T7.
Omnitarian
Also note that Ragnaros is an elemental, so if you have Frost Lich Jaina online, you'll get 8 lifesteal healing right off the bat.
Having a hard time imagining Odd Mage NOT being a thing with all this support. Miiight also be an option for super slow decks (who can try to drop this card late into fatigue when the opponent is out of removal).
Nidnam1252
Pyromaniac, Daring Fire-Eater, Spirit of the Dragonhawk, and this... I really like the Hero Power mechanic.
My only fear is that if it gets too popular, people will start teching Mindbreaker
Soup And Salad
I really like Jan'alai. It pushes Odd Mage is a decent direction that has a pay off that isn't difficult to achieve, and can easily be played outside of that deck too. Explaining why this is probably good is rather pointless.
This only issue I have with the card, as with all of the Loa, is it requires quite a bit of set-up to make work and almost leans on the Spirit to get to that point. If it all works out, this will be amazing. If it doesn't, it will suck.
As with all of the Loa, it will be played in deck that could make it work rather than being played in decks built around it.
Camerom127
It might be hard to pull off with the high cost, but imagine using simulacrum to clone this and get another Ragnaros
samuelll
spirit of the dragonhawk curves into fire eater+hero power, meaning that you will often be able to do 9 dammage w/ your hero power by turn 3, (3 to a minion and to adjacent minions), activating janali extremely early. If you play odd mage, 4 hero powers activat janali
DILLDOH
This would pair well with clockwork automaton. Would make the combo a bit slower but would also help with actually getting more out of your turns since clockworks stats aren't so bad. Of course if you have everything for the full combo you pry wouldn't need to go the clockwork route.
brandon
Would love to know how this works with Hunter's build a beast as it is a beast. Also Hunters hero power dose damage until you go death knight. Along with Priest in shadow form, and death knight form. Warlock in in normal form, and death knight form, but not in even Warlock. Warrior if you go death knight form or play Dr. Boom. Wonder if Blizzard has though about any of those combos with this card.
Bruh
You realize Build-A-Beast doesn't give you Beast higher than 5 mana?
brandon
actually I did not know that I just thought the build a best could not = +10 manna thank you for telling me I looked it up after this that takes away some of my fears
FunkyMonk
odd mage confirmed lol
Ypsilon
This in Wild with Brann Bronzebeard
Pookachu150
Ill one up that for you. You can play this in standard and just use the card that doubles end of turn effects. yea I know you don't get 2 8/8's but you do get 16 damage turn 10 plus a 4/4 and 8/8 elemental that heals you for 16 if you are frost lich Jaina. now that's a spicy combo
SqueezyBear
This is meta defining for many reasons:
1) This card summons RAGNAROS THE FIRELORD. You know, the card that was so good he had to be removed from Standard. And if you think about all the classes, Mage is the obvious choice for this Hall of Famer.
2) The activation doesn’t require you to go too much out of your normal gameplay zone. Picture this: You have hero power available and 6 mana. Your opponent has 3 3/3 Wolves from the Hunter spellstone. You play Spirit of the Dragonhawk and Daring Fire-Eater. Then comes the GLORIOUS PING. You ping the center wolf, and VOILA! You have cleared the opponent’s board. Then comes Turn 7. You play Jan’alai because your ping did 9 DAMAGE the turn before. All you needed was that one ping.
3) In Standard, there are no combo decks that can use Ragnaros, because it’s a mage card. This leaves tempo and control shells for mage. Ragnaros is a card you use to control the board. This fits PERFECTLY into control mage already. Take that fact that Frost Lich Jains grants him lifesteal, and you may have a new win condition for mage.
*If you can’t tell, I really love this card and I want to try to make a deck that revolves around bouncing the Dragonhawk back to your hand. Any suggestions?
Ckv
You can use baleful banker or molten reflection
Gabriel
Zola is a good option
azxcs
op af 7mana for ragnaros and a 4/4 body
HiddenPants
bs card please nerf
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