Blingtron 3000

Blingtron 3000 is a legendary neutral minion card, from the Goblins vs Gnomes set.

Strategy
Blingtron is extremely powerful, but equally for both players - at least, potentially. This makes him a good play when the player has much more to gain from the equipping of a weapon than the opponent. Needing a few extra points of damage to end the game, or to clear a critical minion, is one example. Taunts aside, Blingtron is an effective if unreliable source of burst damage.

Blingtron combos very well with a Harrison Jones or Acidic Swamp Ooze. This allows the player to use Blingtron to equip themselves with a weapon, without granting one to their opponent. Harrison Jones can also make this a very efficient play, potentially drawing several cards, in addition to equipping a weapon and summoning two substantial minions - all from just 2 cards.

One key benefit of using Blingtron is to destroy any weapon currently equipped by the opponent. This can be used to destroy powerful weapons like Doomhammer and Gorehowl, although it always has a chance of upgrading or simply refreshing the player's current weapon. Beware of weapon Deathrattles such as Death's Bite and Powermace, which will be triggered by the destruction of the current weapon.

Blingtron makes an excellent combination with Freeze effects, especially from ongoing sources like Snowchugger and Water Elemental. By freezing the opponent the same turn as playing Blingtron, the opponent is prevented from using their weapon, denying them strategic options as well as the chance of immediate retaliation. If the player can keep the opponent frozen for the rest of the match, this effectively removes Blingtron's downside entirely.

With the release of The League of Explorers, Blingtron carries the risk of directly increasing damage taken by a player, in the form of Cursed Blade. This can lead to a substantial and potentially fatal increase in damage taken, especially given the weapon's 3 Durability, as a player cannot destroy their own weapon without depleting its Durability or equipping a replacement, often making the weapon very hard to get rid of. This can prove very useful when given to the opponent, but is equally likely to be granted to the summoning player. A replacement weapon in hand is a good counter to this possibility, which can easily bring lethal within reach for either player.

Blingtron has strong synergy with Twig of the World Tree. He is one of the only ways for Druids to destroy or replace a weapon (besides Medivh, the Guardian, who costs much more), and lets them able to use it to ramp to 10 mana at turn 5.

For Warriors, Weapons Project is a largely more competetive choice, being more mana efficient and avoiding the possibility of giving a powerful weapon to the opponent, though at the cost of giving the opponent some extra Armor.

Possible weapons
The below table lists all collectible weapons available in Wild format, representing the full range of possible equips from the Blingtron 3000.

Quotes

 * Summon
 * Who wants presents?


 * Attack
 * Oh enjoy!

Lore
The s are a series of robots resembling s. They are best known for the, , , and models, which can be crafted in World of Warcraft by , and then summoned to reward each player with a special gift, once per day. The is apparently an older model which, following the release of its successor, was sent to the  where it features as an optional boss.


 * '' is the name of a series of freshly constructed s. Plated in gold and chrome with a variety of impressive inlaid jewels, these mechanical constructs are known for their endless generosity and gift-giving.


 * ''The Blingtron line didn't really pick up until the hit the vendor shelves. Few remember the, but it was an engineering marvel in its own right. When a new series of Blingtron units are released, the older series is apparently considered obsolete and sent to their deaths in . While ostensibly a series of mechagnomes created to serve their masters, various cryptic sources of information hint at a far more complex and troubling origin for the constructs.

Trivia

 * While the developers were still not wanting to introduce weapons for the non-melee classes, Blingtron was intended to provide limited access to weapons for all decks.


 * Blingtron was the first card to directly grant weapons for non-weapon classes. Prior to its introduction, the only means for non-weapon classes to obtain weapons was to steal the cards of a weapon-class opponent using card-copying, return and/or mind control effects. Until the introduction of Medivh, the Guardian with One Night in Karazhan Blingtron was the only directly available and collectible means for mages, priests, and druids to wield weapons.

Patch changes
Added.