Kael'thas Sunstrider


 * ''For other appearances of Kael'thas Sunstrider, see Kael'thas Sunstrider (disambiguation).

Kael'thas Sunstrider is a legendary neutral minion card, from the Ashes of Outland set.

How to get
Regular Kael'thas Sunstrider is obtained by owning an Ashes of Outland pack and going to Open Packs menu.

Golden Kael'thas Sunstrider is obtained by completing the Trial by Felfire Challenge missions.

Kael'thas Sunstrider is uncraftable and cannot be crafted or disenchanted.

Previous availability
Kael'thas Sunstriderwas obtained by logging into Hearthstone from March 17 to June 29, 2020.

Strategy
Kael'thas works best in Combo decks as a way to cycle through cards extremely quickly or enable large amounts of burst damage. When building a deck around Kael, you need to mix plenty of low mana spells with high cost ones, giving you ways to trigger Kael's effect reliably. Zero mana spells like Regenerate, Pounce, and Counterfeit Coin are highly effective at fulfilling Kael'thas' requirement.

Like most other Legendaries with Triggered effects, never expect Kael'thas to survive your opponent's turn. He is almost certainly a priority kill for your opponent, so it's best to make the most of his effect the turn he's summoned.

Most classes can take some advantage of Kael's effect.
 * Demon Hunter has a handful of cost reduction spells like Skull of Gul'dan. Keeping the hand empty can also chain together plenty of Outcast effects, while combining a free Command the Illidari into Feast of Souls is lots of card draw to continue casting free spells. Inner Demon can also be included as a finisher.
 * Druid has multiple ways to regain mana, extending their reach and letting them fuel Kael'thas. Kael's effect can be spent to cheat out huge cards like Nourish, Starfall, Overflow, Gift of the Wild and Ultimate Infestation. With the proper setup, a Druid can draw their entire deck in a single turn. In Wild, this card draw can be combined with King Togwaggle to easily set up an empty deck and prepare to combo your opponent, or a Strength in Numbers into Malygos for high damage with spells.
 * Mage can use cheap spell-generating spells like Magic Trick, Tome of Intellect, and Ray of Frost to easily activate Kael'thas. Kael's effect can be used on larger spells like Pyroblast, or card draw like Arcane Intellect. Mage also has access to Sorcerer's Apprentice to make casting spells even easier.
 * Paladin has Libram of Wisdom which becomes excellent fuel for Kael'thas once it's discounted to zero by Aldor Truthseeker, and Lady Liadrin will refill your hand with all the copies you need. Libram of Hope, Lay on Hands and, in Wild, Dinosize are then all nice cards to play. If you can make this work in a murloc deck, Tip the Scales and Anyfin Can Happen in Wild also work well.
 * Priest in Wild can use Kael'thas to power a Raza the Chained deck with Shadowreaper Anduin, taking full advantage of free spells to deal massive damage with Voidform. They also have Radiant Elemental to cheapen spells and Lyra the Sunshard for additional fuel.
 * Shaman has a few ways to reduce costs while drawing cards, such as Far Sight and Haunting Visions. The free spell can be Eureka! or Ancestor's Call, letting the Shaman summon an important card like Malygos and combo the opponent to death. Do keep in mind that Kael'thas will not remove Overload, meaning a large chain of Overload spells could mean skipping your next turn if your opponent isn't killed.

Lore

 * '' was the Prince of, the last of the Sunstrider dynasty, as well as a senior member of the . After the fall of Quel'Thalas, Kael'thas led what remained of his people, the sin'dorei, in the service of the . Striving to placate his people's addiction to magic, he later covertly allied with Illidan Stormrage, but betrayed him to the when its master, the demon lord , enticed Kael with the promise of salvation for the blood elves.


 * ''He was branded a traitor after his allegiance to the Legion was revealed, losing the support of Quel'Thalas. Defeated in the, he would be brought back by his demon masters and return to Azeroth a shadow of his former self. Kael'thas' purpose was to summon Kil'jaeden through the , but his plans were foiled by the agents and the sacrifice of . He was defeated by their forces in.


 * ''His soul was confined to the plane of within the  for his misdeeds.

Trivia

 * Kael'thas was the fifth card available in Play mode before the release of the expansion it belonged to. The others were Volcanosaur, Marin the Fox, Archmage Vargoth, and Sathrovarr.
 * The card's flavor text is based on the World of Warcraft meme, which originated from Kael'thas' speech in Magisters' Terrace. In this case, "merely a set back" is a pun on the fact that Descent of Dragons was the card set preceding Ashes of Outland.

Patch changes

 * Now reads: "Every third spell you cast each turn costs (1)." (Up from 0).
 * Now costs 7 mana (Up from 6).
 * Added.