Prince Malchazaar isn’t as crazy as he seems

There are a lot of varying opinions on this card. Many think it is simply incredibly overpowered and needs a change. Others think it’s effect is lack luster and won’t have a particularly big impact on the game. Some even think that it will end the universe. I’m here to say that it will be… Okay. Not crazy, but not terrible either. And here’s why.

To understand this, you need to ask yourself a question – what deck exactly wants 5 more cards in it, even if you get something lucky like Archmage Antonidas or Rhonin? While those are crazy to have in a deck like Tempo Mage, would you rather have a crazy unexpected late game powerhouse of a card for your opening hand, or the Frostbolt you need to answer your opponent’s plays? The problem with this card is that it makes it more difficult to find what you need from your deck, and increases the odds of instead pulling some random Legendary that ends up not helping you at all.

Another problem with this card is that it can only be so unpredictable. It follows the laws of building a deck, meaning you cant get cards out of it from other classes or that are already in your deck. Sadly, this means no triple Tirions in your Paladin deck.

Many think of this as a heavy control style card, which it certainly is, and my first thought was of Mill decks. Honestly, this is one of the few situations where this card shines. Your opponents are suddenly 5 more turns away from Fatigue. That’s two more Coldlight Oracles plus some before you run out of cards. While that would certainly be unfortunate for the Mill player, this still puts them at a sort of advantage, as you can always hope that they draw a Millhouse Manastorm instead of the lethal they need.

All in all, this card is basically a more situational version of Elise Starseeker, which works as a late game option as it does not reduce chances of finding something good from your deck, but instead converts your entire deck, hand and all, into one big win condition. 8 damage off lethal? Pull King Krush in a Warrior deck, because why not? That won’t happen with Prince Malchezaar, unfortunately.