Hearthstone Players!

I've opened 45 packs and not had anything that makes me want to build a deck around. My free quest was the Hunter which I did attempt, but I think it's a bust: "Summon Hunter" feels like a viable deck but the quest is a win-more card. By the time you've summoned 20 minions, you're either dead or already on top of the game.

Playing against, the big horror so far is the Druid quest which looks absurd. Really easy to trigger and then generates massive value for the entire remainder of the game. It should be able to beat most mid-range and control decks hands-down, as far as I can see.

But it's early days yet. There may be a lot I can't see.

I did get Tekahn, and updated by Troll Sapper deck — not the greatest card, but I like it. The new cards are great

I’ll post the deck as soon as I’m off my phone.

Still opening packs and reading cards. It's been a busy summer here, so I haven't really been following the new set's releases or anything. I got the Hunter and Shaman Quests and some high-cc jank I'll probably grind up once I figure out what I want to do. My first impressions are that Priest is better. The only deck I was having success with (success is a strong word) was Smorc, and even that got a little juice. Deathrattle looks like a real thing, and my first dabbling there was pissing some folks off. Once things get going, like half my guys don't die. I got two "recent opponent would like to be your friend" in three games last night. I'm sure they were going to tell me all about the Bloodlusts that were going to kill me or whatever, or how I needed exactly that card to win (Reader, I did not need that card). You can stabilize the early game with Pyro and the new pew pew, secure some card advantage with Mass Hysteria, and then start building really difficult boards of recurring creatures in the late game.

As an aside, I feel like Knife Juggler's stock went up, right? Between Reborn, BEEEES! and that new Hunter card, I feel like crazy shit can happen if you have a Juggler out.

And this is how you outrace one of the easiest quests in the set: hsreplay.net/replay/kVkJ9U3NznpH3QrFjsz7U3

Granted, Druids often have real problems with wide boards these days. Notice the Vultures sitting in my hand? They're starting to strike me as a "win more" card, except that there are so many things that take advantage of them in the deck/class and they'd certainly be useful in longer contests or against things like Control Warrior that have a variety of removal.

But now that Murloc Paladin is taking over the game again, I'm sure board clears will be even more prevalent, so my time in the sun with Warlock may be ending soon. Still screwing around with the Reborn deck. I think I'm on version 5.

T1: Biology Project
T2: Juicy Psychmelon
T3: Zilliax
T4: Coin, Linecracker
T5: BEEES! targeting Linecracker, swing for 80.

It was against Quest Druid though, so I still feel good about myself.

That's impressive. People have been chattering about how easy all of the quests are to complete. Druid can do it on turn 4. Rogue can do it on turn 2. It takes the right draw, of course, and the right opponent, but most of them are achievable quite reliably by turn 5 except Mage, Hunter, Warrior, and Warlock. The first three were among the power classes of the last meta. Warlock wasn't, but it probably has the best quest reward of the four.

Part of the chatter about them being too easy to complete is that their rewards are inferior to the Un'Goro quests. I don't think that's really the case in a lot of examples. Clearly, Ancient Blades isn't as good as Crystal Caverns. But the Shaman reward is vastly superior. So is the Druid reward and the Warlock reward. Still very hard to tell how things are going to shake out. At the very least, I see new versions of the Paladin quest deck every day (with and without Immortal Prelate; with and without Micro Mummy; heavier Mechs; lighter on Mechs; etc.) so there is room to experiment, which is a good thing. I still think the Tip the Scales deck is completely degenerate, though.

I've seen Vulpera Scoundrel showing up in a number of decks, most prominently Shaman (2/3 for 3; Battlecry: Discover a spell or pick a mystery choice.) I didn't pull any (Epic) and it strikes me that this, like Un'Goro, seems to be one of the more expensive sets, dust-wise. Not only do you need a legendary to play the appropriate quest deck, as before, but in a lot of cases, it seems like key cards are Epics and legendaries, contrary to the previous trend which was seeing more Rares and even Commons become backbones of decks. I did pull two Splitting Axes for that totem deck, though!

I agree on the cost front. Decks are very pricy right now. Legendaries are always a thing, but usually Epics were weirdo experiments, and now they seem like critical components in the themes that Blizzard wants us to explore.

I also think folks are obsessed with the Quests—you don’t have to finish it right away, and it can be bad for your deck to be so focused. I finally tried out my Shaman Quest after playing against the meta version a few times, but honestly I didn’t want to give up on Thunderhead like everyone else. I love that card. So I added the Quest to Thunderhead.dec, making a couple swaps for things like Vulpera Scoundrel and that crazy ping-for-3 wasp and I rollllll people. Sand Elemental is so good, and when you get some Sparks too? Come on.

What strikes me as well are the number of decks I'm currently fielding with Mountain Giants in them. Everything from Plot Twist Warlock to Duel Paladin to weenie Paladin. Seriously, the card draw/generation of Sandwasp Queen and Salhet's Pride makes an aggro Paladin deck want to include both Twilight Drake and Mountain Giant. It's really strange. Kudos to the dev team, I guess, for making card draw/generation in Paladin something different than just something similar to (albeit not as broken as) Divine Favor. It still gets destroyed by Warrior, so there's that.

After a frustrating weekend, it looks like my big fear for this set has come true: Highlander decks have returned to ruin pretty much everything I enjoy about playing Hearthstone.

I hate them in Wild, but at least they weren't that common. Now, with a bunch of new toys, they're back. But of course, they're also back in Standard, ruining any chance of a fun, dynamic back-and-forth with endless block, block, block until they can pull off some stupid combo and win the game.

I'm on the verge of quitting. It's probably about time. I think the only thing that might keep me around is adopting a mega-aggro deck like Murloc Paladin, but I've got Golden Paladin, and I don't really want to play the class.

I've honestly been having the same thoughts in the last couple days, mostly centered around cost issues because of quests, but which are also applicable to the Highlander decks. Put simply, if you want to even try those decks, you basically need the legendaries in question. If you don't have them, that means you buy enough packs or burn enough cards to get the dust to craft them. There are exceptions, like playing the current version of Zoolock without Tekahn. But if you want to play Quest Warlock, you need the quest. If you want to play Highlander Mage, you kind of need Reno and Zephyrys, because otherwise you're just limiting yourself to no purpose.

Interestingly, the need for specific cards has even made playing only a few classes unviable, from an economic sense. I still don't have all the cards I'd need to play particular decks among the three classes I play. In fact, because of how poor the dust return is on burned cards, even the few legendaries I've opened can't generate enough to make building those decks a reality. If I got even half the dust value from the six other classes' legendaries that I've opened, rather than 1/4, I'd probably be OK. I don't want to get back into a tendency to casually toss away $ just because I need that one card. I think I'd rather just quit and find something else to do in my spare moments.

jeb,
I was able to pull off the Linebreaker/Beees! on a Shaman. I was somewhat on the ropes and had two Linebreakers and a Beees! in hand. I played a Linebreaker with several minions also on my line, but not taunts. Shaman cleared everything but the Linebreaker and then went face. I played Beees! and did 80 to the Shaman's face. It was quite satisfying as he was playing the Shaman Quest and had been using it to good effect. Thank you.

Haha, that's great Mantidman. I don't think it will take the Ladder by storm or anything, but it is awesome when it fires. Screenshot when you hit it with two BEEES! and swing for 1280.

I committed to Priest, as is my way. I am playing Lady in White and it's hilarious. I cashed in my dupes and extras (you can search for "Extra" in the deck collector to find golds that you have in excess of the plain versions) to get the Priest Quest and the fat stack of Epics to get this going. I don't even have High Priest Amet.

I am looking for a close enough list at hsreplay and nothing is really hitting it well. This might be the best one and it's off by quite a bit:

hsreplay.net/archetypes/310/quest-resurrect-priest

The one I am using leverages Batterhead. 8-mana, 3/12 Rush, can attack again and again as long as it kills things. Mind you, after Quest, it's a 6/15. Mind you mind you, after Lady and Quest it's a 15/15. It's pretty good is what I am saying.

The Quest reward is really just disgusting. Heal for 3 and give a minion +3/+3. It's oppressive. It makes Damaged Stegotron playable. 5/6 Taunt for 6 is an 8/12 after you healbuff it. 5/12 --> 5/6 --> 8/9 --> 8/12. You also use the Stegotrons and Divine Hymn to get the Quest completed. Synergies abound.

Here's my list:
### Battery
#
# 1x (1) Activate the Obelisk
# 2x (1) Power Word: Shield
# 2x (2) Divine Hymn
# 2x (2) Penance
# 2x (2) Seance
# 2x (3) Shadow Word: Death
# 2x (4) Bone Wraith
# 1x (4) Mass Dispel
# 2x (4) Psychopomp
# 2x (5) Convincing Infiltrator
# 2x (5) Mass Hysteria
# 2x (5) Sandhoof Waterbearer
# 1x (5) Zilliax
# 2x (6) Damaged Stegotron
# 1x (6) Khartut Defender
# 1x (6) Lady in White
# 1x (8) Batterhead
# 2x (9) Mass Resurrection
#
AAECAZ/HAgbWCrD7AqCAA4OgA6GhA92rAwzlBNMKvfMC+/4Cl4cD5ogDgpQDmZsDr6UD0aUD8qUDmakDAA==
#

vs Quest Shaman: hsreplay.net/replay/sQ9hhh8DAwfyYrZSFcWVeA

vs Quest Rogue: hsreplay.net/replay/6mhGU6pBZehUiQyQR8cBH2

Easy pickin's. With Carpet. Without Carpet. With Vulture. Without Vulture. With Tekahn. Without Tekahn. Zoo is in a good spot right now. Neither of those are the real problem children for the deck (Warrior and Mage), but that's just another example of how polarized the meta has been for the past year. It's either win after first turn or lose after first turn.

I had a couple quests that I couldn't conveniently finish with Zoo, so I decided to throw together an oddball Shaman deck to see if it worked:

### Toteload
# Class: Shaman
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Dragon
#
# 2x (0) Totemic Surge
# 2x (0) Zap!
# 1x (1) Lightning Bolt
# 2x (1) Sludge Slurper
# 2x (1) Voltaic Burst
# 2x (2) EVIL Totem
# 2x (2) Likkim
# 2x (2) Rockbiter Weapon
# 1x (3) Feral Spirit
# 2x (3) Flametongue Totem
# 2x (3) Lava Burst
# 2x (3) Mana Tide Totem
# 1x (3) Unbound Elemental
# 2x (4) Splitting Axe
# 2x (4) Thunderhead
# 1x (4) Vessina
# 2x (5) Bloodlust
#
AAECAaoIBO4B+QOGBualAw3vAYEE4AbwB5MJ9vACj/sCnP8C9ooDxpkDnaMD2qUD+aUDAA==

Total jank, right? It's not as fast as regular aggro Shaman (no Murlocs, no Spirit of the Frog), doesn't have the extra finish of Doomhammer (although I thought about it, since NO ONE runs weapon destruction right now), and WTF with the totems? But in four games against Quest Rogue, Quest Priest, Murloc Paladin, and Highlander Hunter, it's undefeated. Now, I know what you're thinking: I've ducked the two best/most consistent control decks currently in the meta: Control Warrior and anything Mage. With the latter freezing everything and the former using all 25 board clears, I'd get wrecked. And I probably would.

But I still feel like there might be something here. I think the Unbounds might still be weak, despite all of the Overload. I think Earth Shock might be a must have. I've been able to power my way through Ziliaxen and Khartut Defenders without worrying too much about my opponent regaining six life. But against bigger Taunt stuff like Warrior can throw down, it's probably not viable. Or I just accept that Control Warrior is always going to be a problem (duh, aggro deck) and stay where I am. Weirdly, both Totemic Surge and Splitting Axe are really useful and good ol' Mana Tide Totem and Flametongue Totem have been more than good. The weird thing is that my opponents have largely been ignoring the Mana Tides in favor of trying to kill EVIL Totem, as I've usually had both in play. In three of those four games, I've had a Mana Tide in play for six or seven turns which, of course, gives me ridiculous card advantage. Won't work against Flame Ward, unfortunately.

I dabble with Shaman Midrange, and I've also seen players killing the Lackey Totem over the drawing-actual-cards-Totem and let me put the word out to our readers: This is bad. Don't do this. "Drawing" a quasi-random 1/1 is nice, but it's just not as good as drawing actual cards I put into my deck, basically ever. Unless you have some big trick about making me overdraw; don't do this. Kill that Mana Tide Totem first.

I am still playing Batterhead.dec; currently testing out Faceless Manipulator over Archmage Vargoth. Vargoth is amazing if he comes back on a Mass Resurrection turn, but otherwise a little tame. Not to mention he can fuck you up with your Quest's Hero Power and SW:Death. Everyone around Rank 12 is playing greedy though, so Faceless usually ends up as some cool thing. Paladin makes huge weird Mechs, Hunter makes weird Mechs, everyone makes Giants all day, &c. I can hang with Control decks for the most-part. Warrior will win if they get both Dyn-o-matics early. But maybe today's nerf (Dr. Boom hero to {9}) will tame them a little bit. Mage games are usually pretty nuts--they aren't running Counterspell much, which makes my life a lot easier. I basically need to keep them off insta-gibbing me with lots of heals, clears and hassle-Taunts (like Infiltrator). They will extend too far into my Plague of Sand and run out of threats. Priest games tend to get really weird, especially if they are also Quest-oriented. Most folks are looking for the Combo win with Divine Favor, which is jank.