Undertaker

Undertaker is a common neutral minion card, from the Naxxramas set.

Strategy
A strong opening play, the Undertaker's value relies on the summoning of friendly minions with Deathrattle. A deck filled with cheap Deathrattle minions such as Leper Gnome, Nerubian Egg and Harvest Golem increases the odds of buffing the Undertaker within the following turns, allowing him to attack and trade with high value targets.

History
Undertaker was added with Curse of Naxxramas along with Baron Rivendare, specifically in order to create a strong Deathrattle synergy for the new set. While Baron Rivendare saw reasonable use, Undertaker quickly became one of the most popular and commonly seen cards of the new set. Favoured by aggressive and board control decks like Zoolock and hunter, as well as less likely mid-game decks such as Deathrattle Priest, the Undertaker's original card text Whenever you summon a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+1. was found to make it extremely effective and efficient as a cheap yet potentially game-dominating minion.

As a staple of the aggressive decks that were often considered to dominate the ladder at that time, the Undertaker quickly became an extremely unpopular card for many. While many hoped that the release of Goblins vs Gnomes would see the card toppled from its position, the expansion seemingly did little to reduce its desirability, with the period's dominant aggro and mid-game hunter decks using it as a cornerstone of their early game assault. It was later revealed that Undertaker Hunter account for "around 25%" of the entire meta, an extremely high proportion.

After several months of developer statements that the card would be changed if and when it was necessary, in January 2015 it was announced that the developers would be nerfing the card, removing its Health increasing effect:


 * Undertaker was frustrating to play against. It often gained both Attack and Health stats significantly above those of other inexpensive minions very early in the game. With this change, we expect Undertaker will still be better than other 1-Mana minions when played in a deck with a Deathrattle theme, but more likely to die in combat against other minions.
 * Undertaker has since been reverted to its original state after the start of the Year of the Gryphon, but no longer sees the dominance it once had due to the rising power level of decks in Hearthstone.

Trivia

 * His summoning quote, "Bring out your dead", is a reference to the calls made by those whose task it was to collect dead bodies during the Medieval Black Death. Relatives of the deceased would often keep the dead body in their home in the hopes that the dead person would revive, and would have to "bring out their dead" so that the corpse collectors could take them away. The phrase was specifically chosen as a tribute to , in which the line is used.
 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Heroes of Azeroth" series, for the card.

Patch changes

 * Now reads: Whenever you summon a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+1.
 * Now reads: Whenever you summon a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1 Attack.
 * ''Commentary: "Undertaker was frustrating to play against. It often gained both attack and health stats significantly above those of other inexpensive minions very early in the game. With this change, we expect Undertaker will still be better than other 1-mana minions when played in a deck with a Deathrattle theme, but more likely to die from combat with other minions."


 * Added. Whenever you summon a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+1. [1/2, Common, Naxxramas]