I was playing in the arena, and I tried to bring in an Iron Dwarf (battlecry +2 to Attack) I had nothing else on the board as my oponent had just wiped me, and that was the only card in my hand. I could not target the Iron Dwarf himself, but I could not find any way to just let the battle cry lapse and let him come into play. I probably would have lost either way, but I was wondering if there was a way I could have brought him out onto the board. The only other possibility seemed to be to apply the +2 to the opponent's minion, but that seemed even less optimal.
Bring in a minion that has a targeted battlecry if there is nothing for it to target
hearthstone
Related Solutions
Even if the deck has been changed, removing the legendaries, the author himself offered some advices to replace them, in case you wanted to play one of the previous incarnations of the deck:
Notes on the Legendaries
One of the goals of the deck was to make one that is not terribly hard to put together. The original version of this deck had only commons and rares. The three Legendaries in the deck are very useful and I happen to pull them out of packs so I put them into my deck. But those three cards can be replaced with any cards that gives you mid/late game pressure and damage potential. Here are options I've tried that all work well:
- Spiteful Smith: 4/6 for 5 mana helps it stick around for board presence. Also combos very nicely with your trusty Eaglehorn Bow.
- Venture Co. Mercenary: This takes advantage of the fact that the deck is light on minions. 7/6 for 5 mana forces your opponent to deal with it in some way.
- Reckless Rocketeer: A bit crazy, but this helps with the damage potential problem of the deck, coming out swinging. With Freezing Trap to back it up, it has much greater chance to survive another turn.
- Savannah Highmane: Good cost to stat ratio and the death rattle means you keep some board presence even after a trade.
- Sunwalker: If you fail to contain the early/mid game pressure, this card can really give you the reprieve you need.
All possibilities of getting additional Kel'thuzads in addition to the one that can be put into the deck normally:
- Faceless Manipulator
- Sneed's Old Shredder (1/62 chance of KT)
- Recombobulator on an 8-Drop minion (1/10 chance of KT)
- Echo of Medivh
- Unstable Portal (Incredibly low, but non-zero chance of KT)
- Duplicate
- Reincarnate (New KT resummons old KT at end of turn.)
- Ancestral Spirit (New KT resummons old KT at end of turn.)
- Redemption (New KT resummons old KT at end of turn.)
- Resurrect KT on the same turn he died (New KT resummons old KT at end of turn)
In addition to the above methods controllable by your own deck, mind control effects can steal your opponent's KT if they happen to be running one.
Best Answer
As has been alluded to, if it is possible for you to use your battle cry, you must. In this case, your thought was correct - you would have been obligated to use it on an opposing minion. However, the iron dwarf battle cry is applied only to this turn, meaning your turn. You would have used the battle cry on an opposing minion, only for the effect to wear off when the opponent's turn began. In this case, you wouldn't be "punished" for using it.