Will this help Patron Warrior stay in the Standard meta?
An hour ago, our friends at Blizzpro revealed a new Warrior card from Whispers of the Old Gods on their stream: Ravaging Ghoul, a 3/3 for three mana which deals one damage to all other minions upon entering the battlefield. Due to its whirlwind effect, the minion seems like a prime candidate for inclusion in a Standard-legal Patron Warrior deck, as the former strongest deck in the game will suffer greatly from the loss of [card]Death's Bite[/card]. More [card]Grim Patron[/card] activators are always needed in the deck and with Ravaging Ghoul also doubling as a board clear against aggro decks, it might see some serious play in Standard.
The three mana cost, on the other hand, might be a bit too restrictive for the card to become a huge hit in Standard Patron. All of the common activators, be it [card]Whirlwind[/card], [card]Cruel Taskmaster[/card], a primed [card]Death's Bite[/card] or even an [card]Inner Rage[/card], have one thing in common: they are cheap enough to be played early in the game, preferably on turns five or six along with the eponymous [card]Grim Patron[/card] himself. Without a cost reduction from [card]Emperor Thaurissan[/card], Ravaging Ghoul needs to be played into an already Patron-filled board, or it cannot be comboed with [card]Grim Patron[/card] until turn eight. As experienced Patron players know, you want to get to your explosive turn as soon as possible so waiting until the late in the piece might put you at serious risk of seeing the game slip away.
Regardless of whether or not it will enter the meta, Ravaging Ghoul is certainly a sign of hope for the continuing existence of Patron Warrior in Standard. Will it be enough to keep Patron Warrior in the meta? Let us know your opinion in the poll!
You can follow the reveal of the new expansion with our Whispers of the Old Gods full card list here.
