List of powercreeped cards

This is a silly article. While related to a real Hearthstone topic, it should not be taken too seriously.

This article contains lists of cards which are powercreeps, or cards which are effectively better than other cards in every way.

Some may believe that these cards listed do not constitute as powercreep, however, they will still be listed as such due to the lack of a better term for them. Powercreep may be defined differently from what is defined in this article, if any confusion is caused from the name, this article is listing all cards which are objectively better than other cards. A name change can be considered if anyone is still confused.

This article will list cards which have been powercreeped, and list below them the cards which are better than them.

Class cards are designed to be more powerful than neutral cards, however they will be listed. Cards from different classes will also be compared with each other. Only collectible cards will be listed.

This is a work-in-progress list, feel free to expand it.

Definition

A powercreep defined here would have to fulfill one or more of the following criteria when compared to another card:

• It has exactly the same card text, and more attack or health
• It has exactly the same card text, and costs less mana
• It has exactly the same mana cost and stats, but has more beneficial card text
• It has exactly the same mana cost and stats, but has less counteractive card text
• It has exactly the same mana cost and stats, but has a more beneficial effect:
  • Has Charge instead of Rush
  • Grants the same amount of Armor instead of restoring health
  • Discovers a card instead of randomly generating a card (with same restrictions)
  • Removes a minion instead of destroying it, negating Deathrattle effects and preventing synergy effects utilizing minions which have died
  • Summons a copy of itself (which copies the original's Enchantments) instead of another minion with the same base stats
• It has exactly the same mana cost and card text, but on a Battlecry minion (if powercreeped card is a spell that doesn't summon a minion)
• It has exactly the same mana cost and card text, but it's on a location card, allowing multiple uses
• It has exactly the same mana cost and card text, but can target additional characters or has more legal targets
• It has exactly the same mana cost and card text, but does not require filling a condition to match powercreeped card
• It has the same effect and mana cost-to-healing/damage ratio, but is repeatable with a smaller mana cost, allowing more controlled distribution

For the sake of this article, the actions listed below are beneficial:

• Restoring health to a friendly character, such as Shroom Brewer and Reno Jackson
• Gaining armor, such as Plated Beetle and Drywhisker Armorer
• Dealing damage to an enemy, such as Leper Gnome and Spring Rocket
• Summoning minions for you, such as Violet Wurm and Giggling Inventor
• Destroying an enemy minion or removing it from play, such as Assassinate and The Amazing Reno
• Destroying the enemy hero, such as Mecha'thun
• Destroying cards in the opponent's deck, such as Flik Skyshiv
• Adding cards to your hand, such as Kazakus and Ravencaller
• Discovering, such as Stonehill Defender and Arch-Thief Rafaam
• Drawing cards, such as Loot Hoarder and Bonfire Elemental
• Putting minions from hand into the battlefield, such as Voidcaller and Deathwing, Dragonlord
• Recruiting or putting minions from deck into the battlefield, such as Master Oakheart and Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound
• Putting secrets into the battlefield, such as Arcane Keysmith and Mad Scientist
• Taking control of enemy minions, such as Cabal Shadow Priest and Sylvanas Windrunner
• Gaining attack, such as Bloodsail Raider and Frothing Berserker
• Gaining health or durability, such as Twilight Drake and King's Defender
• Gaining other positive effects, such as Corpsetaker and Carrion Drake
• Giving a friendly minion beneficial effects, such as those given by Corpse Raiser and Acherus Veteran
• Giving minions in your hand or deck beneficial effects, such as Grimestreet Pawnbroker and Prince Keleseth
• Giving minions in the opponent's hand or deck detrimental effects, such as Chaos Gazer and Immolate
• Providing friendly minions with beneficial effects, such as those given by Murloc Warleader and Stormwind Champion
• Providing your hero with beneficial effects, such as those given by Violet Illusionist and Kobold Monk
• Providing your weapon with beneficial effects, such as those given by Captain Greenskin and Envenom Weapon
• Destroying or lowering the durability of the opponent's weapon, such as Bloodsail Corsair and Acidic Swamp Ooze
• Having a beneficial effect keyword (Charge, Colossal, Divine Shield, Echo, Forge, Immune, Lifesteal, Magnetic, Mega-Windfury, Poisonous, Reborn, Rush, Spell Damage, Stealth, Taunt, Tradeable, Twinspell, Windfury)
• Having a beneficial effect on a triggered keyword (Battlecry, Choose One, Combo, Corrupt, Deathrattle, Frenzy, Honorable Kill, Infuse, Inspire, Manathirst, Outcast, Overkill, Spellburst, Start of Game)
• Having a beneficial action keyword (Adapt, Counter, Discover, Dredge, Invoke)
• Interacts beneficially with other keywords, such as Whirlwind Tempest and Y'Shaarj, the Defiler
• Is a Libram card, such as Libram of Justice and Libram of Hope
• Freezing enemy minions, such as Glacial Shard and Frost Nova
• Elusive, or not being targetable by spells or hero powers, such as Air Elemental and Bearshark
• Gaining a beneficial effect while damaged, such as Amani Berserker and Grommash Hellscream
• Activating a beneficial effect when damaged, such as Gurubashi Berserker and Blackhowl Gunspire
• Shuffling beneficial cards into your deck, such as Fal'dorei Strider and Portal Overfiend
• Shuffling harmful cards into opponent's deck, such as Seaforium Bomber and Beneath the Grounds
• Reducing the cost of your cards, such as Galvanizer and Radiant Elemental
• Increasing the cost of your opponent's cards, such as Doomed Apprentice and Boompistol Bully
• Silencing enemy minions, such as Ironbeak Owl and Spellbreaker
• Gaining or refreshing mana crystals, such as Wild Growth and Escaped Manasaber
• Unlocking overloaded mana crystals, such as Lava Shock and Eternal Sentinel
• Refreshing your hero power, such as Garrison Commander and Blackwald Pixie
• Providing your hero power with beneficial effects, such as Waterboy and Steamwheedle Sniper
• Giving a detrimental effect to the opponent's hero power, such as Saboteur and Blowtorch Saboteur
• Has matching stats but also has Choose One options with alternative effects, such as Druid of the Scythe and Treenforcements
• Is played or returned to hand when discarded, such as Silverware Golem and Clutchmother Zavas
• Has an (additional) effect that spends Corpses for a beneficial effect, such as Army of the Dead and Corpse Bride
• Has an effect that is equal to or better than another card that spends an alternative resource with lower or no requirements

Any card needs to have the ability to always do one of the above for it to fulfill that criteria. Avenging Wrath will always deal damage to an enemy, but having a possibility to gain an effect listed above is always better than not having any effect or have effects listed below. Having the chances to be both good and bad effectively cancels out its effectiveness over cards with the same stats, cost and no card text at all.

Listed below are counteractive, or negative effects:

• Discarding, such as Doomguard and Howlfiend
• Overloading, such as Stormforged Axe and Volcano
• Removing cards from your deck, such as Keening Banshee and The Jailer
• Destroying your own mana crystals, such as Blastcrystal Potion and Felguard
• Increasing the mana cost of your cards, such as Venture Co. Mercenary and Embiggen
• Doing damage to friendly characters, such as Ornery Tortoise and Ticking Abomination
• Healing enemy characters, such as Zombie Chow and Corrupted Healbot
• Summoning minions for your opponent, such as Marsh Drake and Mad Summoner
• Giving playable cards to your opponent, such as Booty Bay Bookie and Griftah
• Drawing cards for your opponent, such as Naturalize and Coldlight Oracle
• Shuffling in negative or harmful cards into your deck, such as Ancient Shade and Impbalming
• Giving your opponent other positive effects, such as Arcane Golem and Temporus
• Giving your hero other negative effects, such as Cursed Blade and Bonelord Frostwhisper
• Giving both players positive effects, such as Jungle Moonkin and Mo'arg Artificer
• Giving both players negative effects, such as Nerub'ar Weblord and Hakkar, the Soulflayer
• Replacing cards in your hand and/or deck with random ones, such as Renounce Darkness and Transmogrifier
• Being unable to attack normally, such as Ancient Watcher and Unpowered Mauler
• Having restrictions on what it can attack, such as Icehowl and Supreme Abyssal
• Having an effect which makes the minion attack unintended targets, such as Swamp King Dred and Deathwing, Mad Aspect
• A minion which attacks random targets, such as Ogre Brute and Kobold Barbarian
• Randomizing your targets, such as Mogor the Ogre and Mayor Noggenfogger
• Is initially Dormant when summoned, such as The Darkness and Imprisoned Antaen

The following are sidegrades, and not strictly powercreep:

• Is only superior to another card based on random conditions, such as Transfer Student and Animal Companion
• Having a random effect that can have good or bad outcomes, such as Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron and Mad Bomber
• Bouncing itself back to hand, potentially removing buffs, such as Coliseum Manager and Pen Flinger
• Can conditionally be cheaper than another card but is more expensive by default, such as Anubisath Defender and Shirvallah, the Tiger
• Converting healing into damage, such as Auchenai Soulpriest and Embrace the Shadow
• Having a repeatable end of turn effect instead of a Battlecry, such as Priestess of Fury and EVIL Totem
• Requires filling a condition in order to not be weaker than another card, such as Breath of Dreams and Crush
• Has a similar effect that requires spending alternative resources (such as Corpses) to be superior to another card
• Having a detrimental effect that is counteracted numerically by its beneficial effect, such as High Priest Thekal and Crystallizer
• Putting extra cards into the deck at the start of the game, making it less likely to draw key cards, such as Prince Malchezaar and Prince Renathal

Listed below are ignored:

• Having minion types, such as Murloc Tinyfin and Deathwing
• Having Spell schools, such as Fireball and Desperate Prayer
• Being of a high rarity, such as Legendaries and Epics
• Belonging to different classes
• Being a wild format card
• Having alternative Choose One options that give it different stats while having one of its choices be powercreeped
• Being unable to target friendly characters with a detrimental effect
• Having a beneficial effect on a Battlecry as opposed to a Deathrattle
• Draws specific types of cards, such as Conch's Call and Barak Kodobane
• Rearranging your deck, such as Lorekeeper Polkelt and Order in the Court
• Possible combos between specific cards for effects that normally are negative (ex. Synergy between Lakkari Sacrifice and discard cards, Enraging your minions via Whirlwind)
• Requiring a certain configuration of Runes for Death Knight cards (as they might be considered "sub-classes" within the Death Knight class)

Lists

Due to the large amount of cards that can be considered to have powercreep, they cannot be displayed in a single article due to the wiki's limitations.

Instead, they can be viewed in two split-up articles: List of powercreeped cards/0-3 mana and List of powercreeped cards/4+ mana.