Charge (card)


 * This article is about the card. For the ability see Charge (ability).

Charge is a warrior spell card, inducted into the Legacy set, formerly from the Basic set.

Strategy
For 3 mana, the card is too expensive to be used for tempo gain. Thus, it is optimally used as a finisher with a low-cost minion with high attack, such as Molten Giant, or in an OTK, like in Worgen Warrior.

History
Charge saw various incarnations over the course of the game's alpha and beta. Its earliest known form had the text "Give your minions Charge t his turn." and cost 0 mana. This version saw many players using it as a one turn kill combo on later turns: they would play several high-Attack minions from the hand, followed by a 0-mana Charge, allowing for huge amounts of face damage in a single turn. In this respect it was similar to the version of Unleash the Hounds in play at that time (1 mana, "Give your Beasts +1 Attack and Charge."), which was changed around a month before Charge.

This version of the card not only proved highly frustrating for opponents but ran contrary to the developers' intentions for interactive gameplay, and was changed shortly before the game's full release to read "Give a friendly minion +2 Attack and Charge", and its cost increased to 3. Despite its potential for finisher combos, this new version saw very little play in most game modes, save for one-turn kill combos such as the infamous "OTK Worgen" deck.

In October 2016 the card was changed again, reducing its cost to 1 and giving it the new text "Give a friendly minion Charge. It can't attack heroes this turn." This change finally provided a solution to the developers' concerns around the card's ability to grant Charge, and was one of the last stages of their previously announced plan to reduce the presence of effects that granted Charge, as seen with the earlier nerf to Warsong Commander (previously granting Charge to any friendly minion with 3 or less Attack). The new version's restrictions prevented it from being used for finishing combos, thus opening design space for future cards, while still retaining the card's core design.

While relevant to numerous subsequent releases, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan 's Grimy Goons theme of buffing cards in the player's hand was later cited by Ben Brode as a reason for changing Charge.

With the introduction of the Core and Legacy sets, Charge was changed again, reverted back to the version seen in October of 2016. With the high power level of Wild format and the ability to freely remove or reintroduce the card in Standard as the card pool allowed, the original effect would no longer be an issue.

Lore

 * ''"A charge is one of those things that always ends badly for someone."

is an early ability learned by warriors in World of Warcraft. It allows the warrior to quickly dash to their target and root it while also gaining to fuel further attacks.

Trivia

 * Charge was removed for selection in Arena on September 15, 2016 but was reinstated on December 9, 2018.
 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Heroes of Azeroth" series, depicting the spell.
 * This spell's effect from late 2016 to early 2021 was nearly identical to the Rush keyword, which was introduced on certain cards in The Witchwood.

Patch changes

 * Moved from Basic to Legacy set.
 * ''Commentary: While we enjoy seeing players explore combo styles of play and will continue to support it in the future, we’ve seen in the past that the ability to give Charge to minions that don’t normally have it has been particularly problematic and also heavily restricts future cards. We’ve redesigned the card Charge in a way that provides opportunities for minion combat, but does not enable strategies that intend to win without allowing opponents to interact.
 * This also negated synergies with Charge-related effects, such as Warsong Commander.
 * ''Commentary: While we enjoy seeing players explore combo styles of play and will continue to support it in the future, we’ve seen in the past that the ability to give Charge to minions that don’t normally have it has been particularly problematic and also heavily restricts future cards. We’ve redesigned the card Charge in a way that provides opportunities for minion combat, but does not enable strategies that intend to win without allowing opponents to interact.
 * This also negated synergies with Charge-related effects, such as Warsong Commander.


 * Previously: Give your minions Charge this turn. [0 mana, Spell, Free]
 * Previously: Give your minions Charge this turn. [0 mana, Spell, Free]
 * Previously: Give your minions Charge this turn. [0 mana, Spell, Free]