When Patch 20.0 first launched almost 2 weeks before Fractured in Alterac Valley, players got to pick their side – Alliance or Horde. Those who chose Alliance got a Golden version of Vanndar Stormpike for free, while those who aligned with Horde got Drek'Thar instead. That, and a promise of getting the other faction’s leader at the end of a long honor “quest chain”.
However, the issue is that until you got the other faction’s leader, you had no protection from opening them in your packs. For example, the first Legendary I opened was Vanndar Stormpike even though that’s not a card I wanted to get, because i knew that I will eventually get him for free from the event. And it turns out that my situation was pretty common among the playerbase – that’s why Blizzard has decided to give out full Dust refunds for both of the faction leaders. If you opened the other side’s leader, you could disenchant them while you grind the honor to get the Golden version (or maybe even the Diamond one – winner will get decided this Tuesday).
However, the period during which you can disenchant those cards for their full crafting cost is ending very soon – Patch 22.0.2 has landed on Monday, December 20 and the refunds were supposed to last for a bit over 3 weeks, until January 11. They will most likely go back to their regular disenchant value around 10 AM PT / 19:00 CET on Tuesday, so the usual patch time.
If you opened the other faction’s leader and haven’t disenchanted it yet, you should probably do it unless you’re actively playing it right now. You will get a Golden version for free anyway assuming that you will complete the event (7.2k honor in total) – you have time until the end of the expansion, so anyone barring the most casual players should manage to get enough games. And even if you don’t complete it and won’t end up getting the other card for free… again, unless you’re playing those cards right now, it’s probably a good idea to get rid of them and craft something that you will have more use for. And if you will want to come back to them eventually, you will spend just as many Dust as you got.
