Hearthstone Players!

rocketkiwi wrote: I'm Dom#1815 if anyone needs a pack for spectating and catches me early in an arena run (past two wins I make no promises).

Ha. No worries. Since GvG, Arena has been so volatile that it's easy to crash and burn after 2 wins. I've done it a few times with what I thought were solid decks. The weird thing about Arena right now is that there are still cards that are more valued than others (many of them also in Constructed) but I've seen so many people make solid, successive turns with "bad" cards that I'm starting to really rethink the current tiers. Trump had/has the same problem. People tended to follow his assessment of Arena cards through Naxx, but when the randomness of GvG came down, it took him a while to recover and he had to do serious reassessments of several cards. (Of course, like many players, Trump is also prone to caution over exuberance; he didn't think either Dr. Boom or Imp Gang Boss (to give two recent examples from GvG and BRM, respectively) were going to be that good, either.)

stormseeker#1533 if you want to add me. I've sent a bunch of friend requests to you jabronies.

Jackwraith wrote:

rocketkiwi wrote: I'm Dom#1815 if anyone needs a pack for spectating and catches me early in an arena run (past two wins I make no promises).

Ha. No worries. Since GvG, Arena has been so volatile that it's easy to crash and burn after 2 wins. I've done it a few times with what I thought were solid decks. The weird thing about Arena right now is that there are still cards that are more valued than others (many of them also in Constructed) but I've seen so many people make solid, successive turns with "bad" cards that I'm starting to really rethink the current tiers. Trump had/has the same problem. People tended to follow his assessment of Arena cards through Naxx, but when the randomness of GvG came down, it took him a while to recover and he had to do serious reassessments of several cards. (Of course, like many players, Trump is also prone to caution over exuberance; he didn't think either Dr. Boom or Imp Gang Boss (to give two recent examples from GvG and BRM, respectively) were going to be that good, either.)

I can forgive Trump the Dr. Boom assessment, because he evaluated it based on limited information--at the time all we had was the text, "Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Boombots. CAUTION: Boombots may explode." It turns out that means, "Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Boombot Mechs with Deathrattle: Deal 1-4 damage to a random enemy." The first card could be shit. The second card is the best card in the game. Imp Gang Boss is a gaffe, though, that card is sick and Warlock's 3-drops were woeful heretofore. Warlock getting more demons and pings is a rough go for everyone else.

I again drafted a Mage deck with no Flamestrikes. Or Fireballs. Or Frostbolts this time, because, really who needs direct dama--I went 2-3. Got shredded by two Warlocks this morning. I got the game back in hand against the last one, but he Shadowflamed (for 5) my 4/5 Darkscale Healer, 8/5 Taunted Stalking Tiger, 3/4 Water Elemental, and 4/3 Houndmaster and proceeded to mess up my face area with his 8/5 Floating Watcher. I dodged Hellfire, though! Woo!

I expect to see you with cupcake cardbacks this month.

jeb wrote: I can forgive Trump the Dr. Boom assessment, because he evaluated it based on limited information--at the time all we had was the text, "Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Boombots. CAUTION: Boombots may explode." It turns out that means, "Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Boombot Mechs with Deathrattle: Deal 1-4 damage to a random enemy." The first card could be shit. The second card is the best card in the game.

Yeah. That's a good point. You're right. I forgot that the Boom Bots weren't detailed.

jeb wrote: Imp Gang Boss is a gaffe, though, that card is sick and Warlock's 3-drops were woeful heretofore. Warlock getting more demons and pings is a rough go for everyone else.

Definitely. I couldn't understand that one. IGB is the perfect three drop for Warlocks (and even survives Hellfire!) I have to say, though, that I've been having ridiculous fun the last couple days (including at 3 AM this morning; thanks, insomnia!) with a Mage Waker deck. My opponent got the low roll on Imp-losion this morning and only got 2 Imps (which was still enough to kill my Apprentice, of course), both of which were promptly shot by my Waker when I tossed an Arcane Intellect on the next turn...

jeb wrote: I expect to see you with cupcake cardbacks this month.

Denied. I'm rockin' the pirate flag until next month when the ninjas take over. Goblins? Gnomes? Pfft. Pirates vs Ninjas!

Also, in today's version of Hearthstone Luck to the Nth Degree: I have some gold built up, since I haven't been buying packs recently since I have most of the cards I want. But I've been thinking about some Rogue control decks and a key card is Trade Prince Gallywix, since he slows down the likelihood of things like Flamestrike and Hellfire and direct damage ("Fireball? Thanks! It's coming right back next turn along with my comboed Eviscerate! Let's race!") Plus he's immune to BGH and still has the fat ass of KT (and now Chromaggus.) So, I bought three packs of GvG. 1st had a Quartermaster (dust; already have 2). 2nd was the standard 1 Rare pack. The 2nd card of the 3rd exploded with the legendary ring of fire... Woo hoo!... Trade Prince Gallywix. Sometimes you actually do get what you "pay" for.

Imp Gang Boss, would you fucking kindly fuck right the fuck off? At least until I have two, then come back and let's make friends.

I'm totally cupcaked up, I love it. I love cupcakes, I have some cupcake paintings in my kitchen. I'm sure the hardcore nerd-ass "axes and fire" set don't go in for it, but I thought they were cute.

How in the world was I even able to play this game before crafting two Ironbeak Owls? Those little bastards have been- no shit- gamewinners since I put them in my Priest deck.

Yep. Rarely will you find any kind of deck these days without at least one Owl (Shaman, once again, being the exception because they have Earth Shock; Priest has Silence and Mass Silence, but neither are played very often for a variety of reason (mostly because they don't get you a minion with your silence.)) They're just too useful to be ignored. If that Warlock had had one this morning, my Waker would have been either long dead or reduced to a plain, old 2/4.

jeb wrote: . I got the game back in hand against the last one, but he Shadowflamed (for 5) my 4/5 Darkscale Healer, 8/5 Taunted Stalking Tiger, 3/4 Water Elemental, and 4/3 Houndmaster and proceeded to mess up my face area with his 8/5 Floating Watcher.

I had something similar happen, except I played Deathwing and smashed his face in.

Did my second arena run and went 3-3 so I felt better. I lost 3 in a row the first one. I'm getting better.

This is a really interesting game. you're playing chicken quite a bit as you try to pull cards out of your opponents hands. It's not as simple as it looks. I'm starting to really like it.

New personal arena best: www.heartharena.com/arena-run/ho1d65

Getting used to having three mage losses being a thing, but at least this time I was a mage too.

Highlight was the rogue adding me. I accepted because I thought it was one of you guys. He was very angry because I played an unstable portaled Piloted Sky Golem on Turn 3 and then my actual Piloted Sky Golem on Turn 6.

Was bummed about not getting 11 because I misplayed the last game, leaving a guy on the board who could be enraged with a ping to go face with Deathwing when I was at 9 hp, so he pinged it and then hit me in the face with that and a Cult Master. Still, 355 gold makes up for a lot. That's two and a third more Arena runs!

Jackwraith wrote: Yep. Rarely will you find any kind of deck these days without at least one Owl (Shaman, once again, being the exception because they have Earth Shock; Priest has Silence and Mass Silence, but neither are played very often for a variety of reason (mostly because they don't get you a minion with your silence.)) They're just too useful to be ignored. If that Warlock had had one this morning, my Waker would have been either long dead or reduced to a plain, old 2/4.

Rocking the Hex over here. Earth Shock is not good against high-powered fatties.

Laddering with some jaaaaank so far. Trying to make Resurrect work. It... it is not so good. The card is great, but the deck you have to make to get the most from it is kind of shitty. I need some more early-to-mid control cards for Priest that don't involve shitty minions dying on my side of the board (cf. Shadow Madness, Piloted Shredder). I have Holy Smite, I have SW: Pain. ...Then a gap to Holy Nova, Senjin, Nullifier. The creature curve starts with Dark Cultist, but he gets handled. Deathord maybe? Doesn't that backfire spectacularly? Injured Blademaster would be good, but those cost dust and I am saving.

Deck critique...what would improve this:

Inner Fire x2
Power Word: Shield x2
Goldshire Footman x2
Northshire Cleric x2
Divine Spirit x2
Mind Blast x2
Shadow Word: Pain x2
Annoy-o-Tron x2
Frostwolf Grunt x2
Ironbeak Owl x2
Shadow Word: Death x2
Velen's Chosen x2
Deathlord x2
Lightspawn x2
Holy Nova x2

So obviously, this is about getting those Lightspawns out and making them suddenly incredibly strong- with the buffs and then also the doublers, you can get those bastards up to over 20/20- if they can stand on the board for a turn or two. I have the Deathlords in there kind of as backup, with Divine Spirit and Inner Fire they hit 16/16 and they double as an exceptionally strong early game taunter. Oh, and they can get that big for like six mana.

Control is a major goal here as well, because a stupid motherfucking Senjin can shut the Lightspawns right down at a critical moment. So I've got the Shadow Words, Owls, and Holy Novas as well as plenty of low-cost taunters that I can drop on the same turn as a Lightspawn to protect them. Do not tell me to remove Annoy-O-Tron, it will not happen. I love those things.

Mind Blast is pretty important, IMO, because from experience you need that hit of direct damage as a finisher. Ten points worth is solid, I think.

The Northshire Clerics I've got in there mainly as an accelerant- I'm not actually that worried about healing anything. But since this deck can run REALLY slow, it feels like it needs some extra draws. I really like Velen's Chosen because you get the +2+4 and a draw.

I'm thinking about cutting the Clerics and dropping to one Shadow Word: Death- I tend to wind up with that in hand and useless. I think one is important to stop something big, but I'm thinking one is enough. The main thing I'm thinking is "wrong" here is that I may be overdoing it on the core strategy. I get shut completely down if the Lightspawn trick doesn't pan out or if I get swamped by small minions and can't topdeck a Holy Nova. The Frostwolf Grunts feel not so important to me, I keep thinking there's something more impactful I can put in their stead.

Originally I had Deathwing in there as a failsafe, end-of-game Hail Mary.

Open to advice/suggestions!

I'll just talk about commons and Adventure cards.

Power Word: Shield is awesome. Acceleration and makes Northshire a hassle. I know you don't want to get to late game, but Temple Enforcers are thematic and good.

I would play Holy Smite over Frostwolf Grunts. I would play a lot of things over those Grunts--your instincts there are good. Do you have Naxx? I forget. If you do, putting Velen's Chosen on Echoing Ooze is a pretty awesome feeling. Dark Cultist obv obv if available. Zombie Chow is dynamite in the early game.

I think Mind Blast can go. Count on your fatties winning the day. You want something that can impact the board. Maybe Spellbreakers? That's more Silence for Taunts. Or Earthen Ring Farseers to hit with Spawns and recover them efficiently.

Every deck can play Piloted Shredder.

Everything Jeb said is true. I wouldn't cut the Clerics because they're one of the best card draw engines in the game. Both the Footmen and Grunts are too easily run down as taunts. The reason Annoy-o-Tron is good is that it takes two hits to kill, which neither the Grunts nor Footmen can normally provide. If you need the early taunts, you want Deathlord. Yes, the deathrattle can be a drawback, but you're just as likely to get an early game creature which you can then deal with as you are something massive. Mind Blast is... OK. It's likely to be a dead card in your hand for a long time. The only time I've seen it be a true finisher is when you're playing Velen and that's a legendary and a VERY unstable deck (I tried it for a while), so I'd honestly cut them and try to focus on the Priest cards that make healing an advantage. Since you're playing Divine Spirit for your Lightspawns already, I'd consider Inner Fire. That way, the Spirits can be used on other creatures (like Deathlord) which can then turn into ridiculously massive attackers by themselves or as a combo of the two cards. Since you are playing Spawns, I'd also consider Circle of Healing. Yes, it heals everyone, but if you use your bigger/more durable things to largely clear their board, healing one of theirs won't be a real issue. Also, Northshire Cleirc draws off of ANY creature being healed, so you get cards for them, too (something to consider if you're looking to do that last 2 damage and need a Holy Nova; you can drop a cleric and heal one of their guys to get the draw.)

But, yes, Power Word: Shield is ESSENTIAL in Priest. I've never seen a Priest deck without it, even a Shadow deck. I'd also try to wrangle a couple Light of the Naaru out of GvG packs, since they'll be really useful on the Spawns and Lightwardens can get very big, very fast.

Also, once you get your Priest leveled up, if he's not there already, you'll find that a single Mind Control can work wonders. Every Priest opponent in the game fears that card at turn 10 and beyond, but they'll eventually give in and have to play their Ragnaros/Chromaggus/Tirion/whatever and that's when you say "Thank you." and claim it.

I hate goddam Priests. I hate when I face one, and refuse to play one just on principle.

So I have a Hunter Arena deck that I drafted like a month ago (seriously, maybe even at the end of March). I wasn't playing for a while, so it sat at 2-2.

No Blackrock cards (they hadn't been released yet), no Legendaries, really just a bunch of crap overall. Not really even much Hunter stuff, except 2x Hounds. It's now 5-2, including just beating a Mage with Chromagus and some other dragony stuff I didn't even recognize. I'm quite surprised. I need to take a screenshot so you can see the crapness of this deck.

Also, with my beloved cheapskate Warlock deck I got a Mal'Ganis out of a Bane of Doom on turn 5. I apologized to the poor guy for that one. It wasn't going his way already.

Sadly, I still can't seem to open packs worth anything. 1 Rare and bullshit is my usual reward.