Axe Flinger is probably one of the biggest disappointments to come out of Blackrock Mountain. Niche decks or strange Arena runs can make it an entertaining choice, but overall the card was released and quickly forgotten under the shadow that was cast by dragon decks and Grim Patron. But why has it been so shunned?

Problem #1: The card itself

It should be said right off the bat that part of Axe Flinger’s poor popularity does come from its terrible stats. A 2/5 for four is a bad card no matter how you spin it, especially when you consider the large number of options that a Warrior can have on turn four. Cards like Death’s Bite or combos such as Shield Block/Shield Slam and Acolyte of Pain/Whirlwind benefit current Warrior decks far more than the minimal board presence that Axe Flinger can provide.

Some people might see Axe Flinger as viable weak minion removal with some bonus direct damage, but Hearthstone players learned long ago that health is just a resource like any other. So two damage here and two damage there isn’t anything to worry about, especially when you’re playing as a Warrior that generally relies on either its combos or big minions to win. This then leads us directly into the second problem.

Problem #2: The current meta

Before Grim Patron the best kind of Warrior deck was the classic Control/Wallet Warrior, which has no place for or even interest in weak, chip damage cards like Axe Flinger. Grim Patron pushed the door open slightly for the idea of another top-tier Warrior deck that instead focused on combining the effects of damaging your own minions.

This type of deck had been around before in the form of Math Warrior, but it wasn’t on the top of the ladder due to inconsistent hands and a reliance on mainly one combo. Blackrock Mountain changed that with Emperor Thaurissan and Grim Patron, but unfortunately for Axe Flinger a Patron Warrior deck needs very specific cards for maximum impact. This means that there’s no room for Axe Flinger in the deck that Axe Flinger fits in the best, at least not in the current state of the meta and with the cards that we have available at this time.

Problem #3: Arena

We’ve already established that Axe Flinger isn’t a very good card in constructed, due to Warriors having better cards and combos in the best ladder decks, but what about in Arena? Axe Flinger is actually even worse in Arena, primarily due to the fact that it usually requires certain other cards to work properly. If you don’t happen to draft any Whirlwinds, Cruel Taskmasters, Death’s Bites, Unstable Ghouls, or Revenges then you’ll be in for a difficult time, if you had any interest in picking Axe Flinger in the first place. At least in constructed you can try to build a deck around Axe Flinger’s few (if any) strengths.

The only time I had some success with Axe Flinger was during the early stages of post-Blackrock Mountain, when everyone was still getting a feel for the right way that Patron Warrior should be run.

Even then, Axe Flinger served mostly as a gimmick and bait for newer players that were worried I was planning some ultra combo so they burned their Fireballs and silence effects on my little 2/5. The best-case scenario for the card was when I’d run into Handlock, which let me throw axes over their Molten Giant taunts and win like that. This is somewhat ironic, considering that Handlock has grown in popularity as a counter to Patron Warrior, but I doubt that Axe Flinger will ever be used as tech for such a match up.

In summary, Axe Flinger suffers because the meta doesn’t need him, his preferred deck type doesn’t have room for him, and he needs more synergy than he’s worth in Arena. Unfortunately there are a lot of cards that suffer from these problems, where they might have potential during the creative process but then balance issues and the relatively small deck size of Hearthstone forces them into the background while the more effective cards reign supreme. Hopefully this changes in the future, either with support for deck types that might encourage cards like Axe Flinger or maybe they’ll just give more minions the Light of the Naaru treatment.

Are you into fantasy leagues? Then check out AlphaDraft and put together your allstar lineup!