Firelands Portal is is a 7-cost Mage card that was released as part of the adventure One Night in Karazhan. It started a series of Portal cards that were different to what we have previously seen. It has burn like the core Mage spells, but it also drops a random 5-cost minion on the board.
To understand this cards value we need to know what are the best and worst minions from Firelands Portal. What the average stats we can expect for a drop is, and how much value the card has.
Best and Worst Minions from Firelands Portal
Obviously the ‘best’ minion depends on your board state and what you need to help you in your current game. There are a few great 5-cost drops though based on stats and their card text, here are the 3 best overall:
Best 5-Cost Minions from Firelands Portal
Earth Elemental
This is the highest stat 5-cost minion currently in the game. A 7/8 for 5 is ridiculous, plus it has taunt.
This is because to play Earth Elemental from hand as a Shaman also comes with an overload of 3 mana. But being randomly dropped you skip the overload.
This is the drop you almost always want. The only downside to getting this minion is if you’re opponent wins with burst to the face. In which case maybe a charge minion would have saved you, or maybe not.
Doomguard
Another minion with high stats because it has a big downside when played from the hand.
Doomguard is one of the best charge minions in the game, and getting it from a Firelands Portal means no discarded cards. This drop is almost always going to have a huge impact on the board if you get it from a Firelands Portal.
When you cast Firelands Portal if your End Turn button is yellow you know there is something to do before clicking it so don’t speed-play without checking if you have a charge minion like this.
Leeroy Jenkins
Another high attack charge minion possibility from Firelands Portal is Leeroy Jenkins.
No Whelps for your opponent either, and with 6 attack you can almost always kill a large threat on the board. It’s drops like this that can save you in a game and give you a tempo swing.
I’ve closed out a game by getting Leeroy a few times and it always feels good.
Worst 5-Cost Minions from Firelands Portal
Starving Buzzard
This is the lowest stat minion you can get from a Firelands Portal, and it always makes me feel sad when I see it.
7 mana for 5 damage plus this minion isn’t good value, and if you’re not ahead on board you will suffer for it.
This is how the card balances, you have to roll and hope for good RNG, but sometimes you roll low.
Faceless Manipulator
There are a few 3/3’s in Standard Format as you will see from the table below. This is an example of an excellent 5-cost minion when you’re playing it from hand, but it sucks with its vanilla stats.
These are the kind of minions you need to factor into your calculation when deciding where to fire the burn damage.
Complete List of 5-Cost Minions in Hearthstone (up to Karazhan Release)
Here is a complete list of all the 5-cost minions in the game. I’ve included the attack and health stats, along with any card text that is relevant. No battlecries as you don’t get that benefit from the drop.
Remember that some of these minions are not in Standard Format. They are all in Arena Mode, and Wild Format though.
| Minion | Attack | Health | Card Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starving Buzzard | 3 | 2 | Whenever you summon a Beast, draw a card. |
| Summoning Stone | 0 | 6 | Whenever you cast a spell, summon a random minion of the same Cost. |
| Junkbot | 1 | 5 | Whenever a friendly Mech dies, gain +2/+2. |
| Antique Healbot | 3 | 3 | |
| Bomb Lobber | 3 | 3 | |
| Faceless Manipulator | 3 | 3 | |
| Ram Wrangler | 3 | 3 | |
| Big Game Hunter | 4 | 2 | |
| Stormpike Commando | 4 | 2 | |
| Quartermaster | 2 | 5 | |
| Grim Patron | 3 | 3 | Whenever this minion survives damage, summon another Grim Patron. |
| Blingtron 3000 | 3 | 4 | |
| Dark Iron Skulker | 4 | 3 | |
| Bolvar Fordragon | 1 | 7 | |
| Stampeding Kodo | 3 | 5 | |
| Abomination | 4 | 4 | Taunt. Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to ALL characters. |
| Cult Apothecary | 4 | 4 | |
| Druid of the Claw | 4 | 4 | |
| Druid of the Fang | 4 | 4 | |
| Shadowcaster | 4 | 4 | |
| Silver Hand Knight | 4 | 4 | |
| Frostwolf Warlord | 4 | 4 | |
| Nightblade | 4 | 4 | |
| Vol'Jin | 6 | 2 | |
| Validated Doomsayer | 0 | 7 | At the beginning of your turn, set this minion's Attack to 7. |
| Tundra Rhino | 2 | 5 | Your Beasts have Charge. |
| King of Beasts | 2 | 6 | Taunt. |
| Darkspeaker | 3 | 6 | |
| Thunder Bluff Valiant | 3 | 6 | Inspire: Give your Totems +2 Attack. |
| Mukla's Champion | 4 | 3 | Inspire: Give your other minions +1/+1. |
| Azure Drake | 4 | 4 | Spell Damage +1. |
| Floating Watcher | 4 | 4 | Whenever yor hero takes damage on your turn, gain +2/+2. |
| Darkshire Alchemist | 4 | 5 | |
| Mimiron's Head | 4 | 5 | At the start of your turn, if you have at least 3 mechs, destroy them all and form V-07-TR-0N. |
| Darkscale Healer | 4 | 5 | |
| Blackwing Corruptor | 5 | 4 | |
| Captain Greenskin | 5 | 4 | |
| Harrison Jones | 5 | 4 | |
| Madder Bomber | 5 | 4 | |
| Servant of Yogg-Saron | 5 | 4 | |
| Cobalt Guardian | 6 | 3 | Whenever you summon a Mech, gain Divine Shield. |
| Ethereal Conjurer | 6 | 3 | |
| Hemet Nesingwary | 6 | 3 | |
| Crazed Worshipper | 3 | 6 | Taunt. |
| Fen Creeper | 3 | 6 | Taunt. |
| Shado-Pan Rider | 3 | 7 | |
| Anubisath Sentinel | 4 | 4 | Deathrattle: Give a random friendly minion +3/+3. |
| Kvaldir Raider | 4 | 4 | Inspire: Gain +2/+2. |
| Djinni of Zephyrs | 4 | 6 | After you cast a spell on another friendly minion, cast a copy of it on this one. |
| Spiteful Smith | 4 | 6 | Enrage: Your weapon has +2 Attack. |
| Recruiter | 5 | 4 | Inspire: Add 2/2 Squire to your hand. |
| Booty Bay Bodyguard | 5 | 4 | Taunt. |
| Clockwork Knight | 5 | 5 | |
| Dragon Consort | 5 | 5 | |
| Elite Tauren Chieftain | 5 | 5 | |
| Loatheb | 5 | 5 | |
| Siege Engine | 5 | 5 | Whenever you gain Armor, give this minion +1 Attack. |
| Tuskarr Jouster | 5 | 5 | |
| Upgraded Repair Bot | 5 | 5 | |
| Gurubashi Berserker | 2 | 7 | Whenever this minion takes damage, gain +3 Attack. |
| Psych-o-Tron | 3 | 4 | Taunt. Divine Shield. |
| Sludge Belcher | 3 | 5 | Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a 1/2 Slime with Taunt. |
| Nexus Champion Saraad | 4 | 5 | Inspire: Add a random spell to your hand. |
| Hallazeal the Ascended | 4 | 6 | Whenever your spells deal damage, restore that much Health to your hero. |
| Spectral Knight | 4 | 6 | Can't be targeted by spells or Hero Powers. |
| Feugen | 4 | 7 | Deathrattle: If Stalagg also died this game, summon Thaddius. |
| Naga Sea Witch | 5 | 5 | Your cards cost (5). |
| Stranglethorn Tiger | 5 | 5 | Stealth. |
| Pit Fighter | 5 | 6 | |
| Usher of Souls | 5 | 6 | |
| Leeroy Jenkins | 6 | 2 | Charge. |
| Princess Huhuran | 6 | 5 | |
| Twilight Darkmender | 6 | 5 | |
| Corrupted Healbot | 6 | 6 | Deathrattle: Restore 8 Health to the enemy hero. |
| Ogre Ninja | 6 | 6 | Stealth. 50% chance to attack the wrong enemy. |
| Salty Dog | 7 | 4 | |
| Stalagg | 7 | 4 | Deathrattle: If Feugen also died this game, summon Thaddius. |
| Venture Co. Mercernary | 7 | 6 | Your minions cost (3) more. |
| Fel Reaver | 8 | 8 | Whenever your opponent plays a card, remove the top 3 cards of your deck. |
| Doomguard | 5 | 7 | Charge. |
| Earth Elemental | 7 | 8 | Taunt. |