Captain Glubbschauge aka “Patches” has undergone many transformations in Hearthstone .
Anyone who has played a few rounds of Hearthstone in the past weeks will have had some unpleasant encounters with Captain Glubbschauge. He is usually part of a pirate deck and even more frequently encountered with the feared and hated Pirate Warrior.
However, it was a long journey before “Patches”, as he is called in the original, came into the game in his current form.
In an interview with Polygon, Ben Brode explained that Patches was originally planned for the Blackrock Mountain expansion. There, he would have been a 1/1 dragon that rushes onto the field whenever another dragon is played – you could even have had him twice in the deck. However, that didn’t feel right and led to problems – so they postponed him.
A second attempt was made with The Grand Tournament. Here he was supposed to enter the game in the form of “Sky Captain Kragg”, with the same effect. However, that was scrapped and instead developed into Kragg as we know him today (4/6 with Rush and discount per pirate).
The true reason for postponing Patches from The Grand Tournament was a too powerful interaction with the rogue card “One-Eyed Rogue”. This is a 4/1 pirate that gains Stealth every time another pirate is played. With Patches in the deck, he immediately gained Stealth. This very effect can currently be utilized in the “wild” game mode, where no problems are seen. “There are stronger combinations than this” insists Ben Brode.
The third attempt was made by the developers in Whispers of the Old Gods, where “Patches” was supposed to come into the game in the form of N’Zoth’s First Mate, but was late in development scrapped – leading to the mate as he currently exists in the game (1/1 pirate with 1/3 weapon).
With The Streets of Gadgetzan, they saw the perfect opportunity to finally bring Patches into the game. Gadgetzan is a crazy city that has been right by the sea since the Cataclysm – a stronghold for pirates and shady businesses. The hour of Patches had finally come.
Other cards from Gadgetzan ruin entire tournaments – such as the Dirty Rat.
