Ogre Ninja

Ogre Ninja is a rare rogue minion card, from the Goblins vs Gnomes set.

Probability
With only the enemy hero as a hostile target, the minion has a 100% chance to hit them, effectively negating its triggered effect.

With a single minion on the field, the minion has a 50% chance of hitting its intended target, and a 50% chance of hitting the other.

With a 50% chance of hitting the wrong target, the percentage likelihood of any specific other enemy character being struck is

Strategy
Most Stealth cards offer two advantages: safe targets for Attack buffs, and the chance to survive regardless of the opponent's minions/weapons and assassinate high-Health enemies. Ogre Ninja is not reliable for either purpose. It trades Stranglethorn Tiger's dependability for +1/+1 and the odd benefit of forgetful. This is especially useful against Gazlowe, who may be backed up by Finicky Cloakfield or Emergency Coolant, both of which Ogre Ninja "counters".

Forgetful
The main significance of this minion's triggered effect is that with multiple targets available, the player cannot be sure which target will be hit. This makes its use less advisable when there are high-Attack enemy minions on the board (unless they are desirable targets), as hitting them will cause the player a lot of damage. It adds further unpredictability when playing against minions such as Boom Bots.

This minion can be useful for potentially bypassing Taunt minions. For example, with 1 Taunt minion and 3 non-Taunt minions on the field, attacking the Taunt using the Ninja will have a 50% of hitting the Taunt, and a 12.5% chance of hitting any one of the other targets.

This can be useful for removing protected minions, or even for dealing lethal damage to the opponent themselves. For example, with only 1 Taunt minion on the field, attacking the Taunt using the Ninja will have a 50% chance of bypassing the Taunt and striking the enemy hero. In close games this chance at extra damage can allow players to close the gap.

Because of this possibility, when seeking to prevent an opponent with card such as Ogre Ninja from hitting your hero while behind a taunt, it is effective to summon as many minions onto the field as possible. Each acts to decrease the likelihood of an attack reaching your hero should the minion miss its intended target.

Quotes

 * Summon
 * Sneaky! (Shush, quiet!)


 * Attack
 * This one.


 * Effect triggering
 * No! That one.

Lore
Ninja is an unusual class for an ogre, but a few notable ninja ogres have been known to exist. This card's art depicts, an ogre ninja originating in the ' and '. As with the Ogre Ninja in Hearthstone, Dagg'um is known for combining surprising stealth with a not so surprising lack of intelligence.

Trivia

 * ''"From day one, when we were making this game, Eric Dodds, the game director, proposed again and again and again, 'Ogre Ninja has to be in this game. At some point, in some way, shape or form, Ogre Ninja will show up, I don't care how.' Brode would try to remove it and put it over to this side and [Dodds] would be like, 'What are you doing? Put it back, let's try and figure this out... We can't just put it under the carpet, that piece of art is going in.'" - Ben Thompson


 * Ogre Ninja's art depicts Dagg'um Ty'gor "very skilfully and very intelligently" attempting to conceal himself by standing near a tree while holding a small, mostly bare branch in each hand. This appears to represent the pinnacle of ogre stealth.
 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Drums of War" series, for the card Daggum Tygor.

Patch changes

 * Added.