Blood of The Ancient One

Blood of The Ancient One is an epic neutral minion card, from the Whispers of the Old Gods set.

Strategy
Blood of the Ancient One is close to a win condition in itself. However, getting both Bloods onto the board at the same time may present a challenge, largely due to the card's 9 mana cost and likely targeting by enemy players.

Cost reduction effects like Emperor Thaurissan can help, as can extra mana from sources such as Innervate, Lightning Bloom and The Coin (at least in combination with cost reduction effects). Put into battlefield effects can be extremely helpful, such as Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound, Varian Wrynn, or Barnes. If cost reduction cannot be achieved satisfactorily then hiding it behind a large Taunt is a good alternative. Copy effects like Faceless Manipulator and Gang Up can be helpful in providing extra chances to summon The Ancient One. Herald Volazj is especially effective; if played with a single Blood of The Ancient One on your board, The Ancient One will be summoned at the end of your turn, almost making Volazj a substitute Blood. Another noteworthy synergy is the Rogue's Shadowcaster, which will create a 1-mana 1/1 copy of an already existing Blood that can easily be used to summon The Ancient One. Sonya Shadowdancer can be used to exploit the forced death phase and get you a extreme amount of The Ancient ones.

Despite its 30/30 stats, don't forget that a simple Hex, Polymorph or Sabotage can effortlessly remove your The Ancient One, while an Entomb or worse Mind Control can turn it against you. Due to the destruction of the Bloods in its creation process, and the effort required to pull off the combo, this can leave the player in very poor position if the opponent has a good counter.

Because The Ancient One is summoned at the end of the turn, the opponent has a full turn to counter it before the player can use it to attack. Conversely, the opponent cannot directly stop the player from summoning The Ancient One, other than through Secrets, except by removing Bloods whenever they see them. With cost reduction effects or cards like Varian Wrynn, two Bloods can be put into action in a single turn, making it impossible for the opponent to prevent The Ancient One's summoning.

Many Priest cards can preform such strategies, with cards like Zerek's Cloning Gallery and Mirage Caller.

Lore

 * The Old Gods, even while chained beneath the crust of Azeroth, led massive armies and empowered fearsome generals. The Ancient One was vanquished long ago, but it's hard to keep the minions of the Old Gods down, and with enough of its blood, you can herald the return of the Old Gods' greatest creation!

The Ancient One resembles the old god Y'Shaarj, and the old god's minions like the Mindflayer Kaahrj within the Twilight hammers cult found inside the Ulduar raid protecting Yogg'saron's chamber, and the K'thir under N'zoth within Kul'tiras. The Ancient General itself, however, is unique to Hearthstone. It is described as "one of the generals of the Old Gods".

It is not uncommon for the blood of powerful beings, such as Deathwing, G'huun or Y'Shaarj, to take on a form of semi-sentience on their own by forming into mobile slime creatures. The Blood of The Ancient One appears to be consistent with this theme and resembles the card "Blood of G'huun".

Trivia

 * Ben Brode explains that Blood of The Ancient One was created "to give players who like crazy deckbuilding challenges a chance to see if they could get off a truly crazy combo. ... We also knew we wanted massive horrible monsters in Whispers of the Old Gods, and trying to find a way to include a 30/30 minion was a fun challenge for us."
 * As of Kobolds and Catacombs, The Ancient One is the largest minion in the game, with the nearest competitors being The Darkness, Highkeeper Ra and Deathwing, with the latter holding the record since the game's release. When asked how he felt about creating such a mammoth minion, Brode replied "Pretty good and pretty scared."
 * A popular meme in the Hearthstone community based off Darkkmane's "A Glorious Guide to Hearthstone" involves the Ancient One.

Patch changes

 * Added.