Animal companions: how strong are they?

This is just a thought but why are the animal companions only called forth with specific cards( animal companion, call of the wild, To my side ) ?

Is it simply flavour -references to WoW spells or are they really strong?

Thinking for example of cards like Stonehill Defender -

• Priests get Obsidian Statue and Grave Horror
• Paladins get Tirion Fordring or tons of other good options
• Warlocks get Voidlord and other synergistic demons

Would a hunter getting Misha be comparable?

Stonehill Defender puts a strong minion in your HAND, Animal Companion puts a solid minion on the BOARD.

The former generates Value, the latter generates Tempo.

It's completely different, not even comparable tbh.

And yes, Companion is strong, since the stats it puts on board are slightly above the curve.

The minions are over-statted for 3-cost, so the randomness of the summon offsets that. 

Comparisons: Leokk compared to Warhorse Trainer <-- only buffs recruits

Huffer compared to Wolfrider

Misha compared to Ironfur Grizzly

That's interesting.. so a 2- mana "add a random animal companion to your hand"  would probably see play then

Also means some kinda thematic spell hunter based around the companions may work..

The Stonehill was just an example of cards that would bring class cards more often so would get value from companions shifting pools.

Quote From ARES

That's interesting.. so a 2-

Quote From ARES

That's interesting.. so a 2- mana "add a random animal companion to your hand"  would probably see play then

Also means some kinda thematic spell hunter based around the companions may work..

The Stonehill was just an example of cards that would bring class cards more often so would get value from companions shifting pools.

I think at 1 mana it might see play, and that's primarily because of Zul'jin. At 2 mana, I don't. Essentially, you'd be paying 5 mana for a card that is worth only about 3.5.

Animal companion is really strong in hunter as it is. Getting the companions in your hand from card generation would be definitely worse, I don't think it would even see play.

Companions excel in midrangey/aggro decks that thirst for tempo, not value. You'd want to close the game as fast as possible, moreover as overstatted as they may be in the end game their power is considerably lower. 

Quote From RandomGuy

Quote From ARES

That's interesting.. so a 2- mana "add a random animal companion to your hand"  would probably see play then

Also means some kinda thematic spell hunter based around the companions may work..

The Stonehill was just an example of cards that would bring class cards more often so would get value from companions shifting pools.

I think at 1 mana it might see play, and that's primarily because of Zul'jin. At 2 mana, I don't. Essentially, you'd be paying 5 mana for a card that is worth only about 3.5.

Yes but you would pay that 5 mana over two turns which still allows you to have an overstatted card out on turn 3. 

Plus, unless it's Leokk (poor guy), you're guaranteed a beast that immediately impacts the board so a good target for Dire Frenzy or even Hunting Party if you feel meme-y.

I'd be fine with a way to get companions in hand or a card that somehow makes them more relevant.

To answer the OP, they are VERY strong, and that power is mitigated only by the fact that (normally) you can't chose which one you get. So in a situation where you really need that charge, you might get something else, which is what makes Animal Companion fair. I think we saw what happens when the randomness is removed: Call of the Wild had to be nerfed, To My Side! was laughed at upon release, but ended up being a really strong card. 

The Animal Companions are very strong. Besides what other people in this thread have already said, their beast-tag is very relevant in Hunter. It's less relevant now since Master's Call, but before that the best midrange curve would have Animal Companion on 3 followed by Houndmaster. Nowadays, getting Dire Frenzy on a Huffer can easily win you the game. The card is balanced around being random, since a 4 mana "Discover and summon an Animal Companion" would see play.

Isn't there a single player Boss whose hero power is a 4-mana Animal Companion? I seem to recall that even by turn 4, the minions are pretty strong.

Quote From YJHS000

To answer the OP, they are VERY strong, and that power is mitigated only by the fact that (normally) you can't chose which one you get. So in a situation where you really need that charge, you might get something else, which is what makes Animal Companion fair. I think we saw what happens when the randomness is removed: Call of the Wild had to be nerfed, To My Side! was laughed at upon release, but ended up being a really strong card. 

Oh I didn't know Call of the Wild was nerfed .. wasn't playing yet.. that answers that I guess..

^It's 5 mana summon two random Animal Companions, actually. 

To answer OP's question, 2 mana: add an animal companion to your hand would be an atrocious card, strictly worse than regular animal companion. Yes, you get to see what's in the box before you play your comp, and yes that sometimes might allow you to *not* play it on 3 if the situation doesn't align with your beasty buddy, but is that really worth two mana and a full turn of development? Hell no.

HS is fundamentally a tempo game; it's about generating the most stats on board for the least amount of mana. Paying 5 mana for 3.5 mana worth of stats is a raw deal, even when you throw in the option to split the mana cost over two turns.

Having played mainly with common standard and classic cards for so long, I'm always surprised at their stats. Especially Misha, to the point of misplaying because I forget it is a 4/4 and not a 3/3.

I think a 4 mana version that had something like "if you control a beast, chose 1 from 2 companions" might be playable?