Rager

Ragers are minions, mostly representing elemental beings. There are several types of Rager, each with their own stats, and in some cases abilities.

Ragers are primarily known as a running joke within Hearthstone: inspired by the original Magma Rager - for a long time officially the worst card in the game - Ragers are consistently underpowered and rarely chosen by experienced players.

However, in line with general policy on "bad" cards, despite their poorness Ben Brode has stated that the Ragers have a role to play in the game, helping new players learn to distinguish between good and bad cards, and making players "feel more powerful" when they earn better cards.

While not a minion type, the various Ragers have a strong pattern in their stat values. The original Magma Rager's 5/1 was minorly improved by the 5/2 Ice Rager, with the knowing flavor text "He's a lot cooler than Magma Rager." This clear superiority led to (ostensibly incorrect) complaints of power creep from some players; as a result, the next Rager, Am'gam Rager, was made to feature the reversed stats and name of Magma Rager, with the flavor text "peerc rewop" ("power creep", reversed). Shadow Rager features the original 5/1 stats but adds Stealth and is the only class card Rager minion so far. Wax Rager is only obtainable as a Treasure in Dungeon Run, but is far more powerful than its cousins by being effectively unkillable thanks to its Deathrattle. Steel Rager has the same stats as Magma Rager, but has the added benefit of Rush and is also the first Rager to have a mana cost greater than 3. Faceless Rager returns to having the same cost as Magma Rager along with the same baseline stats, but its ability to copy the Health of another friendly minion gives it significantly more survivability.

Lore
While Ragers were initially limited to elemental beings, their ranks have since been joined by various other creatures: Shadow Rager appears to be a, Steel Rager is a mech, and Faceless Rager is a form of faceless one.


 * ''s are manifestations of volatile energy - s that have attained raw physical form with the spirit remaining as the core.


 * ''The exact origin of these innately chaotic entities is unknown, though some have been accidentally created when bits of magic seeped into coals, over the course of a few decades manifesting in a small elemental being of immense fortitude. Other elementals have been created by sorcerers who prefer more solid companions over beastly familiars. Other elementals (albeit fel-corrupted ones) have been born solely from . Elemental cores seem to retain some semi-sentient properties after being defeated.


 * ''Elementals are an incredibly varied group; Some are bound to distant realms known as the and are usually servants of the powerful  that rule over each plane. Others are native to the world of, bound to the state of their surroundings as representations of the elemental spirits. Still others appear independent from any greater master, acting as individual beings. The elemental forces are ageless and unchanging.

Trivia

 * As directly superior version of Magma Ragers, subsequent Ragers such as Ice Rager and Shadow Rager have been cited by some a clear examples of power creep. However, the latter cards requires collection or crafting, while the former is automatically included in all collections, making this instead a path for player progression through gaining better versions of cards. Additionally, the definition of power creep requires a better version of an already good card, while Magma Rager was and always has been a weak card, seeing no play in any competitive decks.
 * The poorness of Magma Rager has inspired various tributes and efforts, such as attempts to create a competitive deck containing Magma Rager.