Piloted Shredder

Piloted Shredder is a common neutral minion card, from the Goblins vs Gnomes set.

Strategy
A substantial minion in its own right, the Shredder's value is often determined by which minion is summoned by its Deathrattle. This introduces a fairly large measure of RNG into the card's value, and rewards players and decks which are able to improvise around the introduction of unexpected minions.

One of the most significant minions this card can summon is the Doomsayer. If the Shredder belonged to the player whose turn it currently is, the Doomsayer will attempt to wipe the board at the start of the next round, giving the opponent a turn to act; while if the Shredder belonged to the opponent, the Doomsayer will attempt to wipe the board at the start of the very next turn. In either case this threatens to destroy all minions on the board, which can prove extremely helpful or extremely disadvantageous for either player, depending on board conditions and deck type. The Piloted Shredder has a 0.42% chance of summoning a Doomsayer.

Regardless of whether the Shredder belongs to you or your opponent, it is often wise to trigger the Deathrattle of the Shredder before making other plays, allowing you to take into account the presence of the new minion. It is particularly worthwhile when planning to summon other minions that turn, in case a Doomsayer is summoned; the player can then hold the minions until after the Doomsayer has cleared the board, avoiding immediately losing them to its effect. However, while generally useful for informing your decisions, at times this approach may backfire, such as by producing an enemy taunt minion, Armorsmith, or Scavenging Hyena, which can then feed off subsequent combat.

Other significant possible summons include Knife Juggler, Nerub'ar Weblord, Lorewalker Cho, Nat Pagle, Dirty Rat, Wrathguard, Khadgar and Crystalsmith Kangor.

Possible summons
The below table lists all 2-cost collectible minions in Wild format, representing the full range of possible summons from the Shredder.

Statistics
As of The Grand Tournament, the average Shredder-summoned minion has 1.99 attack, 2.48 health, a 6.0% chance to be a Taunt, a 2.4% chance to be Stealth (one of which also has Poison), a 2.4% chance to have Spell Damage +1, a 11.9% chance to be a Mech, a 9.5% chance to be a Beast, a 9.5% chance to have a Deathrattle, and a 2.4% chance to have Inspire.

While the common advice is to pop Shredders as early as possible in case of Doomsayer making it a bad idea to play more minions, don't forget that Mana Wraith or Nerub'ar Weblord or Lorewalker Cho, with their abilities, can make it inconvenient to play minions or spells once on the field, and Dire Wolf Alpha and the 4 possible taunts including Annoy-o-Tron can change what trades are good. Other strategically interesting possibilities are Explosive Sheep, Scavenging Hyena, Knife Juggler, Wild Pyromancer, Patient Assassin and Faerie Dragon.

For its attack, it can have 0 (8.3% chance, including Doomsayer and Lorewalker Cho), 1 (20.2% chance, including Explosive Sheep and Patient Assassin), 2 (41.7% chance, including Bluegill Warrior and Argent Watchman), 3 (23.8% chance) or 4 (6.0% chance, including Ancient Watcher and One-eyed Cheat).

For its health, it can have 1 (13.1% chance, including Explosive Sheep), 2 (46.4% chance, including three taunts and Nerubian Egg), 3 (26.2% chance, including Unstable Ghoul), 4 (10.7% chance, including Lorewalker Cho and Nat Pagle), 5 (2.4% chance - Ancient Watcher and Lightwell) or 7 ( 1.2% chance - Doomsayer).

Lore

 * ''The is an impressive  mechanical creature which is usually piloted by a goblin. Shredders are used for lumbering, but they can serve in war because of the solid metal construction of the machine and the great saws they wield. The first machine designed to mimic the humanoid form, goblin shredders use the steamsaws attached to their arms to cut down lumber at an incredible rate that is unmatched by peasant work crews.

Trivia

 * This card's Deathrattle Summon effect is intended to depict the shredder's pilot hitting the "big shiny red eject button" and parachuting onto the field to continue the fight.

Patch changes
Added.