Druid of the Flame

Druid of the Flame is a common druid minion card, from the Blackrock Mountain set. Its Choose One effects produce Druid of the Flame and Druid of the Flame, respectively, both of which are Beast type minions.

Choose One

 * Resulting minions

Combined
If played while in control of Fandral Staghelm or Ossirian Tear, both Choose One options will be chosen, resulting in the below minion.

Strategy
Players should use the transformation based on the situation:


 * The 2/5 form is useful to:
 * defeat an opponent's 2-health minion;
 * setting up a durable minion before playing Druid of the Fang;
 * avoid cards that destroy 5 Attack minions;
 * survive effects that can deal 2-4 damage.


 * The 5/2 form is useful for:
 * discouraging the opponent from summoning a 5 Health minion, or threatening one in play;
 * avoiding cards that destroy or steal 2 Attack minions;
 * making an aggressive push when the player has board control, particularly with Taunt protection.

While not a hard rule, on an empty board, the 2/5 is almost always favored. Fandral Staghelm or Ossirian Tear transform this minion into a 3-cost 5/5, which are very effective stats.

Quotes

 * Summon
 * Bathe in flames.


 * Attack
 * Ashes.

Lore

 * ''The are a sect of druids loyal to Ragnaros the Firelord, led by his new majordomo . These vile creatures have turned their backs on Cenarius' teachings and now worship the Fire Lord, Ragnaros. Twisted by his insane power, they desire nothing more than to bury everything in ash. They operate mainly in . During the quest The Nordrassil Summit, Thrall explicitly refers to them as members of the, and Fandral claims to answer to the.

Trivia

 * Since this minion's Choose One effect normally replaces it with one of the two Beast forms, its regular attack and death sounds are only heard if the minion enters play through a summon or put into battlefield effect (such as Alarm-o-Bot), causing it to skip the transformation.
 * Despite not being the first transforming Choose One minion, Druid of the Flame's phrasing ultimately set the standard for all the others, after a long period of inconsistent wording.
 * Druid of the Flame was once the only self-modifying Choose One minion out of five that described the end result of the effect instead of the relative stat gains. This is now standard on all self-transforming Choose One minions.
 * Druid of the Flame was the first minion to specifically say it transforms, despite the earlier Druid of the Claw also transforming.
 * Druid of the Claw and Druid of the Saber were rephrased to match the wording style of this card with the release of Journey to Un'Goro, establishing a consistent standard to contrast the transforming Choose One minions from the self-enchanting ones.

Patch changes

 * Added.