Paladin gains what appears at first glance to be a less powerful version of Spikeridged Steed — although there’s a chance this card could make a good fit for Immortal Prelate decks if the 6-mana cost doesn’t prove to be too steep.
- Pharaoh’s Blessing
- Class: Paladin
- Card type: Spell
- Rarity: Rare
- Mana cost: 6
- Card text: Give a minion +4/+4, Divine Shield, and Taunt.
- Source: YingDi (Chinese card game site)
Hearthstone designer Stephen Chang conducted a brief interview about Pharaoh’s Blessing on YingDi, which is translated below:
Q: What’s the idea of giving paladin an all-fit-in-one buff card, which is also at a fairly high cost?
A: We wanted to give Paladin a midrange card that could be used in a variety of decks. It could serve as a finisher in an aggressive deck, a power spike in a midrange tempo deck, or a defensive option in a control deck.
Q: Were there any kind of iteration of this card during the developing process?
A: It started out as a bigger buff and had Lifesteal as well. The Lifesteal didn’t last long – it was removed since it could swing the game too quickly. The stats also got reduced so it would feel more like a Blessing of Kings with a couple of bonus effects.
Q: Here is a question about the card’s name. How did you come up with the usual “Pharaoh giving out blessing” thing, while normally they’re all about curses?
A: Blessings feel better than curses for Paladin, and the leader of the Ramkahen, a Tol’vir tribe in Uldum, is King Phaoris, so we determined that this would be his blessing.
Q: Were there any other interesting stories that can share about this card?
A: A few of the early designs for the Paladin Quest involved minions with Divine Shield, and this card played well into that. Those quest designs didn’t really work out for various reasons, but we liked this card so much that we kept it around because it had some good gameplay around it.
Will Pharaoh’s Blessing see play in the Saviors of Uldum constructed meta or will it be relegated to Arena players?
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