Bolvar Fordragon

Bolvar Fordragon is a legendary paladin minion card, from the Goblins vs Gnomes set.

Strategy


Bolvar is a powerful card, with the potential to provide a sturdy and extremely powerful minion for a very reasonable cost. His main value lies in synergy with the death of numerous friendly minions. This makes him ideal for use in decks with a focus on small minions, and for use with the paladin hero power Reinforce, which can provide an endless stream of 1/1s. Cards which generate multiple minions, such as Haunted Creeper, also offer excellent synergy. However, Bolvar only benefits from deaths while he is in the player's hand, so the player cannot rely upon a late draw of Bolvar to compensate for heavy losses in the game up to that point.

While a potentially massive presence on the battlefield, Bolvar has an acute weakness: his effect is provided in the form of a buff, making him vulnerable to Silence. Opponents are well-advised to keep a Silence or other removal such as Destroy or Transform effects in store for his arrival, especially if the opponent seems all too willing to sacrifice their weaker minions. Bolvar can be drawn by Crystology, letting you begin using his effect earlier.

Bolvar Fordragon can be combined with a High Cost Prismatic Lens deck along with low cost spells, manipulating the costs for a guaranteed Call to Adventure, drawing a 3/9 strong card, a guaranteed Val'anyr buff and +5/+5 Don Han'Cho, thus, making Bolvar 12/16 without any deaths. And by this means, you can obtain all 3 Overkill from Farraki Battleaxe, giving a extra +6/+6 buff.

Quotes

 * Summon
 * Come forth, coward!


 * Attack
 * You will pay!

Lore

 * "After suffering betrayal at the doorstep of his nemesis, a brave paladin was reborn in the searing heat of enchanted dragon flames. No longer fit to dwell among the living, alone he shall endure as the steward of a misbegotten throng."
 * —Jailor of the Damned


 * ''Highlord was a venerated paladin of the  and served as the Regent of  following the disappearance of King . Upon Varian's return, Bolvar was named the commander of the Alliance forces sent to take the battle to the  in . After the treachery of  at the, Bolvar was killed by the  and reanimated by the flames of the.


 * ''Bolvar's body was altered by the dragons' flame, and was taken by the Scourge into, where he was tortured by the in an attempt to bend him to his will. However, the noble spirit of Bolvar resisted the Lich King's depravations. After the death of , the mortal host of the Lich King, Bolvar demanded that Tirion Fordring place the , containing all of the powers of the Scourge, on Bolvar's head so that he would forever be the jailer of the damned - imprisoning the Lich King within the  once more and containing the threat of the Scourge.

Trivia

 * Bolvar is the first card to gain a buff while in the hand. The developers had to implement new functionalities specifically for Bolvar in order to make this possible.
 * Bolvar is also the first card to feature a visual effect which varies depending on the conditions under which it is played. In this case, the lion's head visual effect produced upon summoning Bolvar is larger and brighter the higher his starting Attack. The effect was the work of Becca Abel.
 * Bolvar's entrance music is taken from Stormwind, shared with Varian Wrynn.

Patch changes
Added.