Kologarn

Class: Neutral

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Minion

Mana: 8

Stats: 6/10

Rush. Whenever this attacks a minion, put it in your hand. Deathrattle: Move any in your hand to your opponent’s.

Developer’s comment: Created by Ignis as the ultimate protector, Kologarn will defend Ulduar to his dying breath. Kologarn towers above other minions, grabbing any he attacks and placing them into your hand. Any minions Kologarn has placed in your hand will be returned when he dies, but if you play those minions before Kologarn dies they will be yours to keep on your side of the board. Carefully consider which minions you grab with Kologarn to maximize his power!

Inven’s exclusive card reveal for the expansion: TITANS, is a neutral legendary minion, Kologarn!

The new Hearthstone expansion is named TITANS from the beginning, and it will be covering the Titans and Ulduar in depth, with Hearthstone’s own unique interpretation.

There’s still much unknown about Titans, but they’re important and strong — the story keeps unveiling. Long story short, Titans are one of the species in the World of Warcraft universe. They are cosmic beings with strength close to that of gods.

As Titans are too strong, there was the danger of destroying the planet if they intervene in Azeroth directly, so they created Titanic watchers to work for them. The Titanic watchers are quite strong as well, and some of them appeared in Hearthstone, such as Mimiron or Highkeeper Ra.

Today’s protagonist, Kologarn, is a giant created by Ignis the Furnace Master, ordered by Titan watcher Loken. So he’s like the servant of a servant of a servant of a Titan. Kologarn has appeared in the Antechamber of Ulduar before, who guarded the Shattered Walkway — protecting the bridge and as the bridge. The players had to fight with his upper body to get through, dealing with the abilities of his head, right arm, and left arm.

Among those abilities, Hearthstone’s Kologarn has embodied the ability of his right arm. In World of Warcraft, his right arm grabbed and squeezed the life out of the target(s), stunning and dealing massive damage. Other players had to attack the right arm to keep the party alive.

In Hearthstone, Kologarn brings opponent minions to your hand, and the opponent has to kill Kologarn before you play them to get them back. It’s a Hearthstone-style time attack.

Kologarn is an 8-cost 6/10 neutral legendary minion. It has Rush, and whenever he attacks another minion, he brings the minion to your hand. His Deathrattle returns the minion to your opponent’s hand. If you’ve already played the minion you brought to your hand, it doesn’t return it.

Also, the process of bringing the opponent’s minion into your hand activates the moment you attack it, so there is no actual combat between minions — no matter how high the opponent’s minion’s stats are, Kologarn doesn’t get damaged.

Strengths

Although it’s a high-cost card with 8 mana, its vanilla stats are good. Its 10 health points make it difficult to destroy, and it isn’t easy to kill with spells too. Also, whenever it attacks, it brings the opponent's minions to your hand without combat, so Kologarn’s health doesn’t get drained. It doesn’t destroy the opponent’s minion for good, but you can at least get rid of a difficult minion out of the field.

If you have a low-cost silence mechanism prepared, such as Attorney-at-Maw, Deafen, or Whispers of the Deep, you can bring a minion and erase the Deathrattle so that you don’t return it even after Kologarn dies. If you can reduce the cost a bit, you can survive with Anti-Magic Shell or Clear Conscience. You can also get away with Shadowstep as well.

Even if you were to return the minion you took, the opponent has to spend mana to play that card again, so you can mess up the opponent’s tempo. Keep in mind that when you take the opponent minion, its Deathrattle isn’t activated.

Considering the Titans that will be added in this expansion are strong, it’s likely that Kologarn will be used to bring those Titans to your hand.

Weaknesses

Kologarn’s biggest weakness is that he costs 8 mana, and that you need to work it out a bit to not return the card you took. Also, it’s not that hard to clear the field in the current Hearthstone games, so it will be difficult to keep Kologarn alive for more than one turn. 

Furthermore, it’s not very good against decks that play multiple weak minions, and if you bring a minion with Battlecry, you might allow the opponent to use the Battlecry twice. That being said, the conditions are crucial to use Kologarn properly.

Overall

Kologarn is a card that can be used by all classes. It can steal or send back enemy minions. In the current expansion, where several strong minions will be added, Kologarn could become a meta card.

It might be difficult to use the opponent minion for yourself, you can force the opponent to spend a turn and use mana to destroy Kologarn, and that might be just enough. It can become a great joker card for those who had trouble dealing with strong minions.

In World of Warcraft, Kologarn stood in the users’ way, shouting, “None shall pass!” and after he was slain, he became the bridge that leads to the deep of Ulduar. In Hearthstone, his quote changed to “All shall pass!” but the ability to cling on to minions is still strong. Hopefully, Kologarn shall bridge your way to victory in Hearthstone.