Shadow Ascendant

Shadow Ascendant is a common priest minion card, from the Knights of the Frozen Throne set.

Strategy
Shadow Ascendant is a 2-drop card that can help create a strong board for a Priest deck focusing more on obtaining strong early game board control. The card however does carry a risk, as it is very under powered if it's the only minion on the board. It can be very strong as a follow-up to a 1-drop like Northshire Cleric, to create a 2/4 and 2/2 minion on turn 2.

In Arena, Shadow Ascendant is a good card if you're able to curve into it right from the start, and if you can manage to keep it alive for multiple turns, it can create a very decisive early-game advantage. Unfortunately, playing it out from behind makes the card below average in less than ideal situations.

Lore
The concept of a "Shadow Ascendant" originates from the non-ical ', specifically the source book '.


 * ''The is a powerful religion that sweeps through the . A devotee may throw off the shackles of their zombie-like body, becoming one with the Shadow. Those who succeed become shadow ascendants. Outsiders do not understand the process that fuels the ascendant's evolution from a physically powerful but slow corpse to a quick and deadly shadow. The Cult of Forgotten Shadow, however preaches that all Forsaken are born from the Shadow, and that they carry a portion of the Shadow within them. By strengthening their ties to death and undeath, the ascendant manifests their inner Shadow, bonding with it until they becomes a living shadow, the ultimate manifestation of the Shadow from which they were born.

However, the Roleplaying Game and all of its associated material were deemed non-canonical in 2011, and as such they do not have any bearing on canon lore. Hearthstone's Shadow Ascendant may represent the first time that a non-canonical RPG concept has been appropriated for Hearthstone.

In the web comic Freedom, the undead Anduin Wrynn can be seen sending forth a shadowy ascendant to empower one of his undead soldiers into a hulking monstrosity.

Trivia

 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Class Starter 2011: Horde Priest" series, for the card Teretha of the Undercity.

Patch changes

 * Added.