Acolyte of Pain

Acolyte of Pain is a common neutral minion card, inducted into the Legacy set, formerly from the Classic and Hall of Fame sets.

Strategy
Acolyte of Pain is a minion with a card draw mechanic. Any effect or attack which deals damage to the minion will cause the controlling player to draw a card, even if the damage kills the Acolyte. The Acolyte is therefore best defeated using a destroy effect which directly destroys the minion, without dealing damage to it. If this is not possible, defeat him with a single strike, so that only one card is drawn.

Unlike most minions, the aim of playing the Acolyte is not to keep him alive; rather it is to deal him damage as slowly as possible, drawing as many cards as possible. Ideally, ensure that he receives damage a single point at a time, and if possible heal or buff him so as to extend his life. Attacking 1 Attack minions is an excellent use of the Acolyte.

Mages can damage Acolytes directly through their hero power Fireblast, allowing them to directly trade 2 mana for a new card. While this ensures good draw (as long as the Acolyte isn't killed by another source in the meantime) it is also costly, with a total mana cost of 5 mana for 2 new cards. Using the Acolyte to destroy 1/1 minions is a cheaper and far more beneficial technique.

This card is a strong addition to Patron Warrior decks, which contain many cards that can deal one point of damage to it.

Acolyte of Pain can be a strong addition to minion-heavy Grimy Goon decks, likely drawing several more cards compared to similar understatted drawing minions such as Loot Hoarder and Novice Engineer, thus allowing the deck to better cycle and continue buffing.

Lore

 * s are novice priests-in-training and are usually spellcasters. Many are human or undead members of the Scourge's Cult of the Damned or part of the Forsaken. These acolytes are most notably warlocks or priests. As part of the Scourge, Acolytes are loyal to the Lich King. If they are part of the Forsaken, they are loyal to Sylvanas.

The card art depicts.

Trivia

 * During the game's alpha, the developers initially "mis-judged" Acolyte of Pain, and originally featured it as a 2/4 minion. The card turned out to be extremely popular, with many players using 2 copies in every deck. As a consequence of the card's popularity, the average card draw experienced by players was increased, causing an overall shift toward cheaper cards. This in turn led to Silences becoming very popular, with many players considering them mandatory. As a result of Silence's increased popularity, many cards with powerful card text became far weaker options and fell out of favour. In time, this led to a perception of Silence being overpowered, and a subsequent call for it to be nerfed. However, the developers, looking into the imbalance, saw the Acolyte of Pain at the root of the problem, and by reducing it to a 1/3 were able to adjust the game's "ecosystem" without needly to strongly change other game elements; when the Acolyte was made less effective, it became less popular, reducing the amount of card draw in the game and reducing the value of Silences, which in turn rebalanced the value of many other minions.
 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Scourgewar" series, for the card Moz'rul Bloodbringer.
 * Acolyte of Pain may be compared to Magic: The Gathering's Shadowmage Infiltrator. Both cost 3 mana and have the same body (1/3), however, Infiltrator draws cards when it damages the enemy player, instead of when it's damaged.

Patch changes

 * Moved from Hall of Fame to Legacy set.
 * Moved from Classic to Hall of Fame set.
 * Unknown alpha patch:
 * Unknown alpha patch:
 * Previously: Whenever this minion takes damage, draw a card. [3 mana, 2 Attack, 4 Health]