One thing will always be true for every set of every TCG ever made: people love them some fast beats. The lowest-priced ally that you can play with the biggest body for its cost is generally going to find its way into any deck that aims to reduce its opponent’s health total to 0 as fast as possible.
 

In the World of Warcraft TCG, just like any other, one of the biggest challenges of designing the fast beatdown allies that players crave is balancing their size, cost, and drawbacks in a way that doesn’t make everything else obsolete. At the same time, players want their beatsticks, and if that’s what they want, then that’s what they’re going to get.

Between the first two WoW TCG expansions, Bloodclaw remains one of the best allies to see print. The Little Raptor That Could can be dropped into play on turn 1, and with a 3 ATK / 1 health body, he takes a big bite out of opposing heroes and allies before getting taken down. This is balanced by the fact that he’s restricted to Hunter decks, and is also a Pet. This means you can only have one in play at a time, and you’ll have to say “Bye-bye!” to him if you plan on upgrading to a larger Pet like Chops or Fury. Sure, that’s a minor drawback, but it still keeps Bloodclaw from running rampant.

Fires of Outland is going to bring beatdown players a new best friend. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to my little friend.