New Paladin Minion - High Exarch Yrel

Submitted 3 years, 4 months ago by

A new Legendary Paladin Minion, High Exarch Yrel, has been revealed!

High Exarch Yrel Card Image

Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!


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  • Arthas's Avatar
    Robot Black Lotus 1265 5754 Posts Joined 03/10/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    A new Legendary Paladin Minion, High Exarch Yrel, has been revealed!

    High Exarch Yrel Card Image

    Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!


    Learn more about Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

    Head on over to our dedicated guide for Madness at the Darkmoon Faire!


    Get Cheaper Card Packs

    This section contains affiliate links.

    If you want to save money when buying Hearthstone packs, you should check out Amazon Coins! It's an easy way to save up to 25% off Hearthstone packs so you can get into the new expansion without worrying about your wallet too much. We've got a detailed guide on how to Get Started with Amazon Coins, but if you've already dealt with them in the past, you can buy some more by clicking right here.

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  • Trimutius's Avatar
    1580 2533 Posts Joined 03/16/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Well this will see play in one deck and only in standard probably, but it will be good there...

    I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And even though it is impossible I exist. ©Trimutius

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  • dan8080's Avatar
    165 5 Posts Joined 07/19/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Not bad.  Not a big fan of pure paladin build because it limits a lot what cards you can use.  I prefer No duplicates because you have to use even more variety of cards. 

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  • BloodMefist's Avatar
    Old God Fanatic 850 804 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Well I mean, Pure Paladin is strong going into the set, already has a couple cards that look good in it, I see no reason why it won't continue being Tier 1 or 2.  Also, man, the Paladin legendary characters are feeling really out of place.  Turalyon doesn't make a ton of sense in Scholomance, let alone as a professor, and Yrel has little to nothing to do with the Faire or the Old Gods in general.  At least the Silver Hand Recruits look like theyre at the Faire to have a good time, she does not look happy at all.   If anything I would have thought Outland to be the place for her character, but oh well.

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  • Echo's Avatar
    Staff Writer Cupcake 860 318 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    As the resident Zilliax hater, this card bears too much resemblance to that robot so I already am not a fan of this card and refuse to change my stance on it at all in the future.

    All that being said, this card can clearly be incredibly good in pure paladin, Zilliax with +4+3 for only 3 more mana seems great. The biggest issue though is just whether its still worth to run pure paladin over pen paladin, which has shown to be the much more dominant over the last couple of weeks. I'm hesitant to say that this card alone will give pure the extra push to be better than pen, given that both already have fairly decent aggro matchups, but it's nice to have more of an incentive to go the 'lesser' build now.

    Cardboard wizard and dog haver.

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  • dapperdog's Avatar
    Dragon Scholar 1890 5543 Posts Joined 07/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Okay, so after all the dust has settled from my eyes, this card is strong, very strong even. But it may not be the killer card that finally brings pure pally to, say, tournaments.

    Its main power is actually that it can trade the same turn you play it, heal for 7 and stay on as a defensive taunt. But realistically though, pure pally has never been short of healing, and certainly never short on defensive plays with Libram of Hope and Devout Pupil basically ruling the roost. There's also the new cards; Hammer of the Naaru and Carousel Gryphon which is defensive as well. Plus, it cost 8, and so competes for space with Tirion Fordring. Can this really sub for tirion? I'm more than a little skeptical.

    Also, there's the main problem of pure pally being both extremely predictable, and not really all that great higher up the rank where most players generally play around pure paladin well enough.

    In short, its a very strong card. But its never going to be anywhere near the levels of Lady Liadrin so there's some reason to pause for thought.

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  • PopeNeia's Avatar
    Darkmaster 640 841 Posts Joined 07/06/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Shirvallah for 8 mana and taunt. Alright, sure. You just run it in Pure Paladin, and thats it. Can be generated by the 7/7 which I can foresee to be a very rare problem. What a boring legendary, I’m disappointed honestly.

    This should have come out in Ashes instead as it makes better sense flavour-wise and expansion-wise. Liadrin’s effect could have come out in this one instead as like a ticket-master legendary or something.

    This ain't no place for a hero

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  • Tetsuo's Avatar
    Magma Rager 840 638 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    A slower, conditional Zilliax. It's not a bad comparison considering Zilliax was probably the perfect card the game has ever seen. Gonna be an excellent utility tool for Pure Paladins.

    This is gonna be hard-countered by Bomb Warrior though, assuming it's still a meta deck by the next expansion. An 8-mana do-nothing 7/5 will be horrible. 

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  • Drenolds's Avatar
    Uther 325 23 Posts Joined 06/05/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Though I can't speak to its flavour, I don't see why something like this won't be run in Pure Paladin. It's a very high-impact card for the cost in that deck.

    He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich!

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  • slychd's Avatar
    Sparklepony 1175 484 Posts Joined 05/30/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    This looks pretty good for pure paladin. I love the artwork on it as well.

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  • NegativeNemsy's Avatar
    405 206 Posts Joined 07/10/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    The card is ok.  I really don't like the design of the minion.  The Battlecry restricts it to only pure paladin.  If it was an on board ability it could have been an option in big pure paladin if paladin were to get another big minion.  If this is summoned randomly by another class it will just be a vanilla 7/5 as well.  There could have been some more on board interactivity, but I guess the balance team didn't want that.  Missed opportunity IMO.

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  • Synnr7's Avatar
    Winter Whisperer 1040 624 Posts Joined 07/19/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago
    Quote From Echo

    As the resident Zilliax hater, this card bears too much resemblance to that robot so I already am not a fan of this card and refuse to change my stance on it at all in the future.

    I am not a fan of Z as well but for different reasons. This card is a much more balanced version.

    1) it is a class card. We will see much less of it

    2) it is conditional is just vanilla stats in any other Deck which is no good.

    3) it's expensive. Aggressive decks can kill you well before turn 8. 

    4) can't buff other minions and go face like the magnetic ability allowed

    Overall still a good card in pure decks. However may be too slow. demon hunter and token druid can be quite explosive early and refill the board often. May need stronger early control tools to make this card work. Not a bad card but certainly not as prolific.

    Casual Dragon Cardgame enthusiast. 

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  • FrostyFeet's Avatar
    Senior Writer Derpcorn 2170 1449 Posts Joined 10/20/2018
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    It's always nice to see a big lore character making it into the game, although the connection to this particular theme seems rather vague outside "fighting against darkness". The card itself seems like an autoinclude to every Pure Paladin ever.

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  • Horus's Avatar
    Detective Pikachu 2565 3339 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Its a bit black or white but there can be no neutrality in the fight against darkness.

    Struggle with Heroic Galakrond's Awakening? I got your back : 

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  • UVE's Avatar
    1180 832 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Good effect, poor flavour.

    Rush+Life steal+divine shield it's good enough to force pure archetype.

    And, maybe, the new dude cards will fit on pure decks.

    By The Holy Light!

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  • duppie's Avatar
    HearthStationeer 320 240 Posts Joined 04/02/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    good card.  not too much to say about it.  It's just a sick top end bomb for pure pally and pure pally only.  Rush/divine shield lets you impact the board immediately to get value so it is much less weak to removal / sap effects.  Taunt/lifesteal basically locks out aggro who have to trade into it.  Has synergy with librams because by turn 8 they're often 0 so you can pump this up.

     

    I remember Yrel from WoW WoD.  Cool to see her in HS.  

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  • Caro's Avatar
    Dragon 2215 2485 Posts Joined 03/12/2020
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Oh boy... we already know libram paly is a T1 deck :( so this card is an auto 5/5 stars. Paly will have such insane heals now, they will beat priest

    Edit: Oh and on the subject of priest, if they manage to copy this card from the opponent's deck, it's basically useless to them :D

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  • economicaooc's Avatar
    460 464 Posts Joined 03/04/2020
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    8 mana is just too much for this effect, even if you disregard the deckbuilding constraints.

    If you want a big heal + removal, paladin has many options that are better than this.

    I doubt that this sees play.

    This post is discussing the wild format.

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  • ElSabidon's Avatar
    Salty Dog 1030 685 Posts Joined 06/07/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    This is certainly no unity, precision, perfection. It is however a good way to deal with aggro in a deck that can already deal well with aggro. And, more importantly, a deck that's boring as hell to play with.

    Rating cards on coolness factor rather than predicting power because I like screwing up rating averages (and because I suck at predicting real power levels, but we'll ignore that LUL)
    Wins per class (2/6/22): DH-197; Druid-996Hunter-91«60; Mage-1056; Paladin-1126; Priest-746; Rogue-961; Shaman-1095; Warlock-871; Warrior-906

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  • AngryShuckie's Avatar
    1705 1735 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago
    Quote From BloodMefist

    ....  Also, man, the Paladin legendary characters are feeling really out of place.  Turalyon doesn't make a ton of sense in Scholomance, let alone as a professor, and Yrel has little to nothing to do with the Faire or the Old Gods in general.  At least the Silver Hand Recruits look like theyre at the Faire to have a good time, she does not look happy at all.   If anything I would have thought Outland to be the place for her character, but oh well.

    Turalyon will probably confuse me until the end of days, but I can at least understand the timing of Yrel, if not the setting. I imagine they wanted another Pure Pally card before DoD rotates out, and Yrel is the leader of the over-zealous Lightbound in modern day alternate Draenor, making her the right character for the effect. Maybe one of the Mag'har orcs told her to chill out for a bit, so she's gone to Darkmoon Faire to (try to) do that?

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  • JackJimson's Avatar
    670 673 Posts Joined 11/19/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Slow Zilliax first thing came to mind.

    Likely an auto include in any pure pally list.

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  • allthehype's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 630 739 Posts Joined 07/26/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Nice, a really good addition to Pure decks! Removal, healing and defense in one card, really strong. The problem is that both Lightforged cards rotates in april, will Pure decks be viable after that? Pure decks also have counters like bombs and albatrosses. Useless in Arena ofc.

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  • DoubleSummon's Avatar
    Ancestral Recall 1585 2271 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    No brainer include in pure paladin, same keywords of zilliax except magnetic so it should be great also 7 heal swing while leaving a body..

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  • Pezman's Avatar
    Staff Writer 2235 2220 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    It's weird to me that everyone is comparing this to Zilliax and not Shirvallah, the Tiger. Same exact stats and abilities, just with taunt and a different activation scenario. I think this card is very strong and will see a fair amount of play, but I think it would be cooler if it wasn't so similar to Shirvallah.

    "Be excellent to each other." -Bill and Ted

    1
  • forcemajeure's Avatar
    410 230 Posts Joined 04/01/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Exciting & high-powered card.  Capable of huge swings!

    Start date: 5/16/14     Current gold: 16,410      Current dust: 17,200    Play wins: 10,786   Legendary from crafting: 26

    Cash spent: $125.00  Lifetime gold: 177,110   Dust reserves: 62,985  Arena Wins: 907  Legendary from packs: 127

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  • KANSAS's Avatar
    Old God Fanatic 1745 2912 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    I think this will see play since it is a strong late game card that can do a lot to get you ahead if you are behind. If Zilliax has taught me anything, it's that if you put enough keywords onto a card, it will see play. 

    It's kind of funny to me how Pure Paladins get rewarded for not playing any neutral cards by getting a bigger version of the most played neutral card in the game.

    Carrion, my wayward grub.

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  • Demonxz95's Avatar
    Senior Writer 2245 2626 Posts Joined 03/19/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    I'm going to be honest, I was not expecting them to print more Pure Paladin support. It is also slightly weird to print it now when the other 2 Pure Paladin cards will rotate out in the set after this one.

    But while Pure Paladin is still a thing, this will definitely be a no-brainer inclusion there. Zilliax was strong because it did everything: Removes a minion, gives you a wall, heals you. This does it slower because it has a higher mana cost, but it still does what it does quite effectively.

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  • FortyDust's Avatar
    Pumpkin 1190 1897 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago
    Quote From Pezman

    It's weird to me that everyone is comparing this to Zilliax and not Shirvallah, the Tiger. Same exact stats and abilities, just with taunt and a different activation scenario.

    Thank you! I was thinking the same thing. Also, the fact that it's not Magnetic makes it a completely different card.

    Someone else said Paladin has better removal options, but I doubt those remove and heal and generate a decent body with Taunt.

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  • SilverWolf's Avatar
    Tauren Chieftain Addict 990 1085 Posts Joined 04/01/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    It's very strong on pure paladin, you can even get another copy with Lightforged Crusader, it's kinda slow, but with librams you can stand against aggro.

    Lorewise, I like the way that the 'light chosen' have some strong buffs as a leader of lightforged crusaders

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  • Hydrafrog's Avatar
    Gul'dan 1840 3268 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Hearthstone Community:  Wow. Pure Paladin is such a solid and well rounded deck.  I'm glad that there isn't anything that makes it super scary for a turn or two.

    Blizzard:  ... Hold my flagon of ale... 

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  • DarkFrostX's Avatar
    Old God Fanatic 830 1229 Posts Joined 07/26/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Time to put back the Bad Luck Albatross

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  • DescentOfDragonsOp's Avatar
    530 353 Posts Joined 12/02/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Good for pure Palidan and possibly good for a Limbram esque palidan too

    TOTAL CORRUPTION

    TOTAL POWAAAAAAA

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  • Alfi's Avatar
    Devoted Academic 1790 1375 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago
    Quote From DarkFrostX

    Time to put back the Bad Luck Albatross

    Or play Bomb Warrio

    -=alfi=-

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  • MenacingBagel's Avatar
    815 721 Posts Joined 09/24/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Zilliax except way more expensive and requires a deck condition I'm not sure if this will be played much but it will be very annoying to deal with

    Self proclaimed good at battlegrounds

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  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    This is a weird card for this set considering how Lightforged Zealot and Lightforged Crusader are rotating out of standard soon. Nonetheless, High Exarch Yrel is basically an 8 mana version of Zilliax, which was one of the best legendaries to ever exist in Hearthstone. This will see play in the already viable Pure Libram Paladin archetype as Yrel 1) removes a minion, 2) puts a taunt minion in play, and 3) provides a substantial heal all at the same time.

    For glory, honor, and gold!

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  • clawz161's Avatar
    The Undying 825 827 Posts Joined 07/16/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    it's zilliax. That's it.

    Living like that.

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  • KillaFIsh's Avatar
    375 250 Posts Joined 07/10/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Will be run for the next 4 months until the lightforged package is gone, but then probably won't see much play after.  I still think it will be super strong these next 4 months arelats.

    "Some inspirational quote from some famous person" - Some famous person

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  • Brandon's Avatar
    Old God Fanatic 1350 2486 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Seems super solid in Pure Paladin, which i'm guessing it still gonna be a tier 1/ high tier 2 deck. So i guess High Exarch Yrel will see plenty of play in standard.

    In wild i don't know if it will see play. Pure paladin is generally more of a buff deck, but i think it will see plenty of experimentation at the very least. High Exarch Yrel reminds me of Shirvallah, the Tiger and Zilliax. Both were, and still are very good cards.

    Also i'm happy for the Yrel fans, because now she is finally in HS.

    RNG is only fun as long as there is a 50/50 chance of getting something really good or trash level of bad. If RNG always results in something good, then it's not fun.

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  • NebuchadnezzarHS's Avatar
    Supporter 2025 1394 Posts Joined 06/14/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    More fuel for Pure Paladin, sigh.

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  • Lundy's Avatar
    Little Devil Teemo 1555 707 Posts Joined 06/21/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Shirvallah with Taunt, and a different condition to make it playable. Thankfully Pure Paladin is already pretty good, and this will be a welcome addition.

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  • ShadowsOfSense's Avatar
    1500 1111 Posts Joined 10/23/2018
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    I mean, if you're playing Pure Paladin you play this. I don't know if you should be playing Pure Paladin, but you obviously include a bigger Zilliax there, it's a no brainer.

    Welcome to the site!

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  • Fisguinho's Avatar
    The Raven 1190 411 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    8 mana for 5 health seems a tad too much, will have to wait and see

    All hail the banshee queen.

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  • Input's Avatar
    470 259 Posts Joined 06/01/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Control Paladin got so much love in Year of the Phoenix, too bad she doesn't have a trip like Shrivalla.

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  • Geno9999's Avatar
    Metrognome 1620 1210 Posts Joined 11/10/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Unity. Precision. Perfection. PRIMITIVE PURITY!!!

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  • sule's Avatar
    Dinosaur 785 796 Posts Joined 08/21/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    I expect this card to be everywhere on ladder. Unless Pure Paladin just can't find a foothold in the upcoming meta, it will be played on ladder and there will be no reason not to put Yrel in that deck. Solid payoff for doing something people were already doing.

    I have spoken.

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  • Draketh's Avatar
    Darkmaster 1565 1395 Posts Joined 04/02/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    Glad to see Yrel join the fray, and it seems like the girl has been working out, given what she can do

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  • randomfan's Avatar
    Elemental 1255 744 Posts Joined 03/17/2019
    Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

    A pure paladin Zilliax replacement. Great, just what I wanted to see from them. Is Paladin turning into the controlling grind you down class? 

    Unfortunately, common sense isn't as common as it should be.

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