Why don't more people run BloodKnight?

I recently obtained the card Bloodknight (for the second time, the first time I automatically scrapped without thinking about it).

Now I know I've assumed it was bad but after thinking some about it I honestly can't find a downside to it (at least for me).

Uses:

• Remove Shields: Removing enemy shields seems like one of the obvious plays for this card as it gains +3/+3 for every single one. This makes it amazing against those pesky paladins who run like 5 shielded units.
• (3) 3/3: It's a (3) cost for 3/3. So by no means is it a bad card. Yes there are better alternatives such as Ironfur Grizzley or Harvet Golem but I feel like its potential makes it actually worth that chance that it will be worthless.
• Sunwalkers: I always run 2xSunwalker in my deck. So naturally I'm going to at the least remove one of theirs, then if I'm vsing a paladin it's nearly a no brainer to have the BloodKnight in my deck.

Question(s): Are there any reasons that I shouldn't run this card? The main mindset I have is possible alternatives that may be required more than the BloodKnight. Is there any other reasons I wouldn't want to other than being limited to a specific number of cards?

Solution 1:

There are so many options at 3 mana- Harvest Golem, Scarlet Crusader and Shattered Sun Cleric are just the neutral ones. All of them are effective in any situation.

Blood Knight's 3/3 may look respectable but without its ability it will often die to a 2 mana 3/2, perform badly against most 3 mana minions and die horribly to bigger minions. It's also an ability that only comes up in certain decks- Rush, Zoo and Paladin decks use Divine Shield but it's otherwise a dead card.

In decks with divine shield, blood knight can be extremely powerful, especially against other decks that are. Warlock Zoo decks are starting to run blood knight for mirror matches, for example.

Solution 2:

If you run the bloodknight in a divine shield heavy Paladin deck you could definitely get some value out of it and get a big scary guy out on turn 2/3 (if you get an argent squire on turn 1). Not to mention if your facing a divine shield heavy deck then you could definitely get some value off of the bloodknight. Other than that he is an average cost card as he is a 3/3 for 3. Overall he is an alright card to run in your deck although if you need the space for another card chuck it if it will server you better.

Solution 3:

With the caveat that I've been playing for about a week, I'd like to answer this.

Blood knight was my first epic-rarity card, so I really wanted it to be good. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have a lot of value unless I was really, really lucky. 3/3 for 3 is fine, but there are an ENORMOUS number of 3-drop cards, many of which may have much better synergy with your deck.

So I didn't use it for a long time. Then, I started running control pally with 6 units that have divine shield (2x annoy-a-tron, 2x argent protector, 2x shielded minibot). In this situation blood knight can be played as a 5-mana combo, netting you either a 2/2 or 1/2 taunt plus 6/6. 8/8 for 5 mana ain't bad.

Anecdotally, it has helped me a lot with vs other control paladins. One game my opponent dropped 2nd turn shielded minibot, 3rd turn argent protector + coin silver hand. My t4 I dropped my blood knight for 9/9 and my opponent immediately forfeited. Of course, this was at rank 15 so it doesn't really mean much.

I only run 1, partially because it's so situational and mostly because I only have 1.

In conclusion:

• Gets outcompeted by many other 3-drops because it's so situational
• In a deck with its own cheap divine shields has good value
• Once it's in your deck, has the possibility to provide insane value

EDIT:

I've found that it works fairly well in an aggro paladin deck, if you're lucky. t3 6/6 off a shielded minibot is no joke.