Happy Twosday! Celebrating Hearthstone's 10 Most Influential 2 Mana 2/2 Cards

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022 (2/22/22, henceforward known as "Twosday") is the most twos that any of us are ever going to see on a calendar, and in honor of this holiest of days we're going to look at the most powerful, influential, or well-flavored 2 mana 2/2 cards in Hearthstone's history.

Why ten? Because in binary, 10 is two.

10. Scavenging Hyena

MTG has its Bears, but there's only one original 2 mana 2/2 for Hearthstone players: Scavenging Hyena. The Hyena was an early powerhouse in Beta/Classic meta, featuring in aggressive Hunter decks that made use of pre-nerf Scavenging Buzzard and pre-nerf Unleash the Hounds (as well as other various pre-nerf cards). One card that was never nerfed? Scavenging Hyena, proving for all time that it wasn't really the problem.

More recently, the Hyena hasn't made the cut for Face Hunter decks (or any Hunter decks), but it will live on forever in our hearts (and Battlegrounds).

9. Cagematch Custodian

Cagematch Custodian is an adequately powerful 2 drop for Elemental decks (tutoring decent weapons like Whack-A-Gnoll Hammer in an aggressive curve deck), but its true power was seen in the dreaded Evolve Shaman as a guarantee that the deck would find Boggspine Knuckles. Once the Knuckles were dialed back in power, the Custodian went back to his day job of drawing Doomhammer.

The Custodian will continue to be included in Standard Shaman decks until its impending rotation, so it's a worthy inclusion at 9.

8. Harbor Scamp

Harbor Scamp is a potent 2 drop for everyone's favorite Pirate Warrior, allowing the deck a good follow-up to turn 1 Perfectly Balanced that helps complete the Quest by getting more Pirates in hand. With the Questline sticking around through the Standard rotation, we haven't seen nearly as much of this minion as we're going to.

In Wild, the Scamp pairs well with fellow 2/2 Parachute Brigand (and some guy named Patches) for an even more powerful turn 2 play that is totally fun to play against and that no one is at all sick of.

7. Wandmaker

Wandmaker doesn't look too powerful, but looks can be deceiving. She found an immediate place in decks for classes like Demon Hunter, Mage, and Priest, who had a small number of powerful 1 Cost spells which (or is it witch?) she could generate.

It's possible that personal bias has inflated the Wandmaker's standing in this list, but the fact remains that Wandmaker has made her mark on Hearthstone--going so far as to get two spells (Renew and Evocation) bumped up to 2 mana because she was so good at reliably generating them. Card generation from a 2 mana 2/2? Who ever heard of such a thing?

6. Jade Claws

Jade Shaman, the little brother to Jade Druid, got its time in the sun when the archetype was in Standard even if it never completely took over the meta. However, Jade Claws was featured in more than just Jade decks, as its ability to be bring both a weapon and a minion to the board made it the perfect fit for aggressive (and other) Shaman decks that weren't particularly interested in going all-in on the Jade archetype.

The only weapon on this list, Jade Claws earns its spot as a nearly auto-include in Shaman decks during its time in Standard.

5. Baleful Banker

The introduction of Baleful Banker to Hearthstone was as a harmless meme card that could shuffle an important minion or two back into the deck. Then, everything changed when Shirvallah attacked. Suddenly, the Banker was a key cog in the win condition of Holy Wrath Paladin, a very good deck.

The Banker's history only gets more sordid from there, as he would then become partner to Archivist Elysiana to create games that could last far longer than anyone playing them desired. When Elysiana was nerfed to 9 mana, Banker was once again relegated to meme decks, but his mark on Hearthstone history was indelibly ingrained in the memories of players.

4. Mana Cyclone

Mana Cyclone is yet another deceptively powerful minion who paired well with Sorcerer's Apprentice to generate absolute scads of spells for Mage decks that went so far as to name themselves after it. Seriously, how many of the cards on this list created their own archetype?

Mana Cyclone decks were indubitably powerful decks that used the namesake Elemental (often played after an Elemental Evocation) to bury their opponents in card advantage and win with extra copies of powerful spells. Once its time in Standard was done, it still saw play in Wild Quest Mage decks as a way to quickly Open the Waygate. A good 2 mana 2/2, in other words.

3. Shielded Minibot

No conversation about good 2 mana minions would be complete without Shielded Minibot, an all-weather 2-Drop that was generally an auto-include for Paladin decks from the moment it was released in GvG. Sticky, hard to trade into, this Minibot had it all.

It was most infamously put to use in Secret Paladin's patented Curve of Doom(TM), that used Shielded Minibot's ability to always find a value trade to win the board, then keep winning the board all the way up until it dropped Mysterious Challenger and Dr. 7. A powerful 2-Drop for a powerful deck. It even made its mark in Battlegrounds, before being replaced by Pupbot.

2. Mad Scientist

Now we're down to the true legends: the top 2 (or top 10, if you're using binary). And what a treat we have at number two: a minion whose Deathrattle has given him one of the longest lives of any minion in Hearthstone history. We've seen minions on this list that generate card value, but none of them quite stack up to our Mad Scientist, who literally pulls cards from your deck and puts them into play.

Mad Scientist was a big deal in Standard, but if anything he's become even more powerful in Wild: showing up in everything from Secret Mage to Secret Hunter to Secret Paladin to Secret Rogue (which didn't even have Secrets when the Scientist was in Standard). That's quite the variety of archetypes; you don't know how lovely you are, Mad Scientist.

1. Prince Keleseth

If you played Hearthstone at all during the Years of the Mammoth and Raven, then it should come as absolutely no shock to you that the number one card on our list of the best 2 mana 2/2s is Prince Keleseth. When it comes to absolute, soul-crushing, meta-warping, archetype-creating power, no one does it quite like Keleseth (with a little help from his friends).

To be frank, he hates the idea of even being included on this list with other 2-Drops; but if he had to be somewhere, there's no better place than at the top. Keleseth Rogue was one of THE powerhouses of Standard Hearthstone for a number of expansions, and an on-curve Keleseth sometimes prompted an out-right concession from the opponent. While he likely won't be celebrating Twosday himself, we'll still honor the Princeliest of minions on this, the Two-est of days.

Do you agree with our rankings? How are you planning to spend your Twosday? Share your thoughts in the comments!