Card of the Day: Thunderhead Hippogryph

Welcome back to another Card of the Day.

Todays card is Thunderhead Hippogryph.

Bowsermaster12

One of the better, possibly even the best loot cards TCG wise. He is a nuetral ally and depending on what faction you play gains a different ability. On the horde side he has Ferocity and can attack right away, as for alliance he has Elusive and can not be attacked at all. These are, at the moment, the most reacurring abilities for those factions.

The code reward from it is nothing to cheer about, but it is better then a tabard. You gain a baby non-combat Hippogryph pet that follows you around. This seems to be related to Blizzcons reward of a Baby Murlock non-combat pet. Of course, if your like me, you already have way to many non-combat pets in the game. I currently have a spider, a worg, and a black owl in my inventory and my bank is over flowing with several others. None the less, I would gladly discard one of my parrots for this pet if I ever had the chance too.

Looking at both sides on this one:

For Horde, A 3/3 for that can attack as it come into play. very good, Nice for rush type decks where you focus on dealing damage quickly. Currently Vesh'ral is seeing alot of play where I am, For he is a 3/1 that can attack right away. Since Thunderhead Hippogryph is 4, thats means for he has 2 more health then Vesh'ral, which is alot and can determine the game. I can see this going into any Horde deck, but it will be mostly played in decks that focus on Ferocity and dealing damage (Like my mage deck).

For Alliance, A 3/3 thats can not be attacked for . Judging that Sha'lin Nightwind is a 4/1 for 3 thats can not be attacked, Thunderhead is looking more like a filler. Since Sha'lin is slightly better then Thunderhead for a few reasons:

-Health doesnt really matter since it can not be attacked.
-To kill it they would need to play some ability to deal the damage. (So now they cant play thats card because you needed to kill the 4/1 that kept hitting you.)
-Sha'lin is more of an early starter, So you are doing damage faster and 4 damage from an ally that early is very very good.

Yet this does not mean Thunderhead is doomed to occupy space in a binder for alliance. It is still a good card, Unlike Nightwind, your opponent must now play a spell that deals 3 damage to kill it. Since I would normally Fireblast the Sha'lin, now I have to either Frostbolt the Gryphon or Flamestrike it down, Both of which are costly and Frostbolt I would rather save for the hero.

Final Review:
-Thunderhead Gryphon is a great overall rare. First in the line of (Hopefully) many faction based nuetral allies.
-3/3 for 4 is good, even more so when it gains an ability, But this can be seen as good for one faction and bad for another.
-It does not really fit into any deck genre. It is a wild card, so to speak, and can be put into any deck just for the extra boost.
-Not many allies can compare to this so its above average in that area.

Rating (1 being bad/5 being best)
4/5


DanHibiki

Day 2 of phat lewt week! we step things up a notch today, moving onto ONLY loot card to make a ranking gen con appearance

Thunderhead Hippogryph
Ally - Neutral Hippogryph
Cost - 4
Attack - 3
Health - 3
ALLIANCE : Thunderhead Hippogryph has elusive
FEROCITY : Thunderhead Hippogryph has ferocity

For those of you that didn't know, the loot version of T-head provides you with your very own in-game hippogryph pet, it's no murky, but it's still pretty darn cute... however the card version is far from cute, but that makes it easilly the most interesting of all the neutral cards (yes, even more interesting than Time Walk ... I mean chromie)

T-head has a different ability depending on the faction of his hero, his alliance ability (ELUSIVE) makes him a bad drop, since latro abiectus is just outright better. However the Horde T-head really shines, basically acting as a super-sized Vesh'ral to not only get in that first hit for 3, but get in a few extras aswell - in constructed, if you want a solid and beefy ferocious ally you really cannot go wrong with T-head.

In draft and sealed, T-head is everything he is in constructed and more! this format is so ally-heavy, a bulky(ish) alliance character, or a fast hitting horde character can always work in your favour

T-head was in the #1 dream machine deck, and he deserved to be

Constructed - not great in alliance, but a nicer option than Vesh'ral for most matchups - 4/5
Sealed - T-head could easilly end up being your reason for running horde - 4/5
Draft - all around good - 4/5
Artwork - The artwork for T-head really captures both the alliance and horde abilities at once - 3.5/5

I'm DanHibiki, and saikyo on


Carlinlord

Some may not know of the full story behind Hippogryphs. Hippogryphs are a mythological creature and are said to be the offspring of a horse and a gryphon. In mythology gryphons and horses are mortal enemies (much like cats and dogs), therefore a Hippogryph is an impossibilitiy, and can be used in phrases similar to 'pigs may fly' but instead you can say 'a hippogryph may be born'.
However, it seems Blizzard seem to ignore this fact as Hippogryphs are the means of transportation used by the Night Elves.

Thunderhead's ablity changes based on the faction of the deck it's in. In a Horde deck, it has ferocity, in an Alliance deck, it is elusive.

4 resources for 3 ATK and 3 Health isn't worth it, when you compare it to Kor Cindervein, but it's the ability that balances it off.

In an Alliance deck;
Thunderhead is a better option than most (if not all) the other elusive cards.
Braxiss the Sleeper for example costs 6 with 6 ATK and 4 Health, so for an extra 2 resources you get an additional 2 ATK ...
Sha'lin Nightwind costs 3, has 4 ATK, but only 1 Health. So for one less resource you get 1 more ATK and 2 less Health ... Thunderhead can survive an attack it makes on an ally and doesn't die from a basic Quick Strike, or Arance Shot etc.

In Horde;
Thunderhead owns. Thunderhead is a lot better than Vesh'ral, with 3 for 3 ATK and 1 Health. That extra resource gets you +2 Health, so Thunderhead isn't just sent on suicide missions, it can live to tell the tale and has the possibility of becoming a 2:1 (when your opponenet attacks it to try and kill it).

Overall: 4/5

Alliance:
Raid: 4/5
Constructed: 3/5

Horde:
Raid: 4/5
Constructed: 4/5

Art: 6/5