Hello one and all,

As promised – a few words about Grincher!

Let’s start by splitting the available artifacts into 4 groups –

The Bad – artifacts that do not benefit from Grincher’s effect at all

The Good – the ones that partially benefit from the effect

The Valuable – the ones that benefit fully and are generally good

The Terrifying – the ones that will be 4 cost reduced to 2

I’ve also given each artifact a ranking between Bronze – S Rank (inclusive) which is a ranking keeping in mind Grincher’s ability.

Bronze – very situational, likely replace worthy

Silver – situational, if used then the reward is borderline not worth it

Gold – situational, if used the reward is acceptable

Diamond – always gives an attack boost minimum

S Rank – always gives an effect that is worth getting

So – the Infographic first –

Now for some numbers (these are qualitative analyses turned into quantities – that is to say, if your opinion on what is good differs from mine, your value of the power of Grincher will also differ from me) –

Total Artifacts = 18

Bronze + Silver = 6/18 = 1/3 – 33% chance of pulling an artifact that acts only as card draw.



Minimum Attack boost = 9/18 (Twin Fangs should give something so I added it here) so there’s a 50-50 chance you will get at least +1 atk.



What you effectively pay for Grincher on average – about 3.7 mana (taking into account both ranking and cost of artifacts). Would you play a 5/4 minion for 3.7 mana? 😛

Some of the more expected caveats of Grincher –

It has a 4hp body without buffs, putting it in range of an on-curve Makantor, a standard 6 mana play of Holy Immolation and a clean Cryogenesis. Kara can produce a masterpiece 6/5 Grincher which is quite the strongman, while Vaath and Sajj should both be quite happy to take this risk in decks built around maximising the power of the artifacts derived.

The standard comparison (even though I mention it as well) shouldn’t be Necroseer, since Grincher is pretty much always better. It’s more akin to a 4 mana body with a 1 mana investment into drawing a card from a specific pool. 4 mana minions with the same body include Chassis of Mechaz0r! (anti-spell shield), Young Flamewing (flying), while 4 mana of course also runs Dioltas, Primus Shieldmaster and a slew of in-faction minions. So if you’re fitting in Grincher in your deck, remember to budget for it as such. This card is not a 5 drop body. It is, however, quite fun, and its effect is

at worst

5 mana 5/4 OG: Draw a card

going up to

4 mana 5/4 OG: Your General gains X attack/Blast/Ranged

and finally

3 mana 5/4 + 4 mana Arclyte Regalia/Hexblade/Claws.

Maybe it’s time for our 2 drop meta shake-up –

Zyx out!