- You might be looking for one of these cards: Battlegrounds/Patches the Pirate, Mercenaries/Patches the Pirate, Mercenaries/Patches the Pirate (90477), Mercenaries/Patches the Pirate (90478), Patches the Pirate (Tavern Brawl).
Patches the Pirate is a legendary neutral minion card, from the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan set.
How to get
| Type | Source | Quality | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card packs | Open one of these card packs:   | Regular Golden | 1 (random) |
| Crafting | Craft a Regular copy for 1600  | Regular | 1 |
| Crafting | Craft a Golden copy for 3200 | Golden | 1 |
| Achievement | Gadgetzan Legendary Collector (Collect all 20 Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Legendary cards.). |
Diamond | 1 |
Notes
To edit these notes, go to Template:Patches the Pirate notes.
- This card's unique triggered effect can be activated while the card is in the player's deck (and only while it is in the player's deck), causing Patches to be put directly into the battlefield.[1]
- Patches' effect will not trigger if your board is full.
Sounds
- Play
- ▶️
VO_CFM_637_Male_Beholder_Attack_01.wav<summon sound> - ▶️
Pirate_Play_Stinger_2.wav<music stinger> - ▶️
FloatingWatcher_Play_Underlay.wav<underlay sound>
- Attack
- ▶️
VO_CFM_637_Male_Beholder_Attack_02.wav<attack sound> - ▶️
FloatingWatcher_Attack_Underlay.wav<underlay sound>
- Death
- ▶️
VO_CFM_637_Male_Beholder_Death_01.wav<death sound> - ▶️
FloatingWatcher_Death_Underlay.wav<underlay sound>
History
Patches saw its first iteration in early 2014 as "Dragon Whelp", a non-legendary 1/1 Dragon to be included in the Blackrock Mountain set. Its effect was similar to the final card, but was triggered by the playing of a Dragon rather than a Pirate, and it did not have Charge. The non-legendary status also allowed the player to include 2 copies in their deck. However, a preference for Dragons to mostly remain high-cost, and "odd" synergy with 
Faerie Dragon resulted in the developers dropping card from the set, and trying it as a legendary minion in the next set.[2]
The developers "briefly considered" making the card a Murloc, but despite its design fitting with the type's swarming gameplay, it was found to be the most fun as a Pirate. Once it was changed to a legendary, the developers tried making the card a 2/1, before settling on a 1/1 Charge design. While it worked well in the Grand Tournament set, the card was removed "last second" due to synergy with One-Eyed Cheat and 
Ship's Cannon.[3] It was only the introduction of game formats and the relegation of One-Eyed Cheat to Wild format that would later make the card's design viable; this would prevent it from achieving problematic power levels in Standard format, while its higher power level would not be considered problematic in Wild format, which has a higher power level overall as well as a higher tolerance for unusual combos in general.[2][4][5]
Prior to the card's removal, The Grand Tournament featured two legendary Pirate minions: 
Skycap'n Kragg and Captain Scaleblade.[6] The card discussed on this page was the original Skycap'n Kragg.[7] Because the art for that card was somewhat iconically seen in the expansion's trailer, when the effect of the card was deemed too powerful, the art and titles of the two Pirates were swapped, with Skycap'n Kragg becoming a 4/6 Charge, and the other design (and character) being left out of the set.[2][8]
However, while it was removed from the set, the original stats and art for the removed Pirate card were still shown in the expansion's trailer. As a result, players became curious about the unnamed legendary. Brode revealed some background about the card, including that it had been removed due to synergy with an unnamed card from the Goblins vs Gnomes set,[4][9] but stated that he was "going to try and sneak it in again someday, so no spoilers".[10] Balance Designer Dean Ayala described it as his favourite card,[11] stating "it was a card so awesome that it would have overshadowed everything else, thus must have been cut."[12]
With Brode continuing to champion its inclusion in each new set,[8] the developers tried again to add the card in Whispers of the Old Gods, as the original design for 
N'Zoth's First Mate (initially jokingly titled "Dean’s First Mate", in reference to Dean Ayala's love of the card).[3] However, despite being a Warrior-only card, the design was again cut. In July 2016 Brode admitted that he regretted not having made the card.[2][13]
It was not until 16 months after its first public appearance in the The Grand Tournament trailer that the card would see an official debut as Patches the Pirate, featured as part of the initial reveal for Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. The set was the right fit for Patches due to several factors, most importantly the removal of One-Eyed Cheat and Ship's Cannon from Standard format, as well as the position of Mean Streets as the final set of the year, resulting in a bigger card pool and thus a reduced likelihood of Patches having a 'disproportionate' impact.[3]
Patches is therefore the third name and art for the same underlying card design, with all three depicting flying pirates of one kind or another. According to senior game designer Matt Place, the card's roughly 2 year history "might be the record. It's certainly one of the longest running development cycles of any card."[3]
Lore
Patches is unique to Hearthstone. Similar to the Floating Watcher, Patches is an observer, but he is also the first known example of an observer pirate. He is the envy of pirates everywhere due to having more eyepatches than most pirates have eyes.[14][2]
This section uses content from Wowpedia.- Observers, also known as floating eyes, are an intelligent race of floating eyeball squids native to the Great Dark Beyond.
Following his introduction in Hearthstone, Patches would go on to appear in World of Warcraft with the Battle for Azeroth expansion. More specifically, he can be summoned in the Freehold dungeon by placing a Hearthstone Board on the ground prior to the boss fight with Skycap'n Kragg (another original Hearthstone pirate who made the transition into WoW). Defeating Patches is the subject of the achievement I'm in Charge Now!.
Trivia
- "It was my favorite card and a lot of the design group still makes fun of me. Because it was the last week [before] BRM and he was in the set and I was like, 'Oh, this is awesome, I want to play him in my deck.' And then I got sick and I came back and they were like, 'Oh, we cut your favorite card.' Now every time anyone gets sick we're like, 'What's your favorite card?' 'No! I'm not telling you!'"[17]
- Patches' old summoning quote could be a reference to the line "Look at me, I am the captain now" from the movie Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks.
Gallery
Patches the Pirate, full art
Patch changes
- Patch 25.4.0.165029 (2023-02-14):
- Diamond card unlock requirement is now: "Collect all 20 Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Legendary cards." (previously: no special unlock requirement).
- Now has diamond version.
- Patch 25.0.0.158725 (2022-11-29):
- Minion types are now Demon / Pirate (previously: Pirate).
- Patch 10.2.0.23180 (2018-02-06):
- No longer has Charge and has a different voiceline upon summoning.
- Patch 7.0.0.15590 (2016-11-29):
- Added.
External links
References[]
- ↑ Yong Woo on Twitter. (2016-11-04).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Ben Brode on reddit. (2016-11-05).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 PC Gamer - The two-year making of Hearthstone’s Patches the Pirate. (2016-12-15).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hearthpwn - Whispers of the Old Gods Developer Q&A Transcript, This Week in Card Reveals. (2016-04-10).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-08-15).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-11-05).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-03-12).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ben Brode on Twitch. (2016-04-17).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-03-12).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-08-15).
- ↑ Dean Ayala on Twitter. (2015-10-25).
- ↑ Dean Ayala on Twitter. (2015-10-25).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-07-17).
- ↑ BlizzCon 2016, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan - Hearthstone What's New Panel
- ↑ TAC Hearthstone BlizzCon 2016 Interview with Rachelle Davis and Peter Whalen. (2016-11-15).
- ↑ Dave Kosak on Twitter. (2016-12-16).
- ↑ Hearthhead - Iksar: Patches Deck Is "Maybe The Single Hardest Deck To Play". (2016-11-13).