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Hearthstone Players!

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17 Aug 2015 23:59 - 18 Aug 2015 09:01 #208720 by SebastianBludd
Replied by SebastianBludd on topic Hearthstone Players!
I've been watching a lot of Trump's Arena videos lately to improve my play. I've been learning a lot about drafting in Arena and also how to get better about making smart trades and focusing on card advantage rather than exclusively on health. I dove back into Ranked play and after struggling to finish off a Mage who I was dominating and should have put away earlier, I tweaked the top end of my deck and ended up with the following:

Equality x2
Argent Protector
Ironbeak Owl x2
Shielded Minibot x2
Wild Pyromancer
Muster for Battle x2
Acolyte of Pain
Aldor Peacekeeper x2
Truesilver Champion x2
Blessing of Kings
Consecration x2
Dark Iron Dwarf x2
Defender of Argus
Azure Drake x2
Sludge Belcher x2
Avenging Wrath
Boulderfist Ogre
Dr. Boom
Lay on Hands
Tirion Fordring

I like Pyromancer + Equality as a budget board clear option for 4 mana in addition to the 6 mana of Equality + Consecration, and I also like Azure Drake + Consecration as a late game play. I also prefer the immediate attack bonus of Dark Iron Dwarf to the stickiness of Piloted Shredder.

My most recent win was a mirror match against another Paladin that was the craziest win I've had outside of Tavern Brawl. I started with dual Shielded Minibots and he played two consecutive Musters for Battle so we traded back and forth for a bit. He played a Quartermaster on his two remaining SHR so I responded with Equality and a MfB of my own. I trade a SHR into one of his 3/3 SHR's while handling the other with Light's Justice, leaving him with a 2/1 Quartermaster. A few turns later he has a small minion and he plays Piloted Sky Golem. I Aldor Peacekeeper it and he responds with Sylvanas. I silence Sylvanas with the Owl and he goes face with Sylvanas (I was going to clear Sylvanas but I'd have an empty board and I went with the Owl instead) before he plays Sneed's Old Shredder.

Luckily I top-deck the other Owl, silence it, and play the Pyromancer + Equality combo to clear his board. I'm holding my own at this point but I'm behind on health and it could go either way. Then out comes his Tirion. I'm scrambling like crazy at this point and I have an Owl and a SHR on the board, so I go Hero Power and play Avenging Wrath. I do enough damage to Tirion to finish him off with minions so now I have to worry about that damn weapon. For the next several turns I'm holding my only Blessing of Kings and both Dark Iron Dwarves in the hopes of getting him within lethal range and bursting him down. On turn 10 he plays Lay on Hands so I seize the break in tempo to do the same as my health is dangerously low. His hand is lagging behind mine (3-4 cards to my 6-7) and at this point it's getting really tense and we're using almost all of our time every turn.

He Peacekeepers my Owl down to a 1/1 but I ignore it and go face with some weenies to get him within 2 or 3 of lethal, so of course he comes back with an Antique Healbot. Sigh. I then get a bit of luck and top-deck Azure Drake. I play it with Consecrate to clear the bot and Peacekeeper, but I don't have any taunts on the board and he keeps hitting me with his weapon. He finally gets me down to 3 health but he's not running Hammer of Wrath (who does?) so I'm safe for the moment. I finally get a sliver of breathing room when his side's empty so I drop Tirion on the board with my 1/1 Owl and SHR. Then occurs the funniest moment of the match when my opponent emotes "Sorry," plays Truesilver, and tries to go face. He's at 13 health and settles for playing a Piloted Shredder. I clear the Shredder (it spits out Wild Pyromancer) and get him within lethal range by pinging him with 1/1 weenies and Light's Justice (like I have for the previous 2-3 turns or so), and immediately after I tell my wife that if he doesn't play something good I'll kill him on my next turn, he plays a Guardian of Kings and heals 6 to get out of lethal range again. Sigh #2. He plays Equality to get Tirion to 6/1 (divine shield is still intact) so I respond with BoK on Tirion, and I play Defender of Argus between Tirion and a SHR to push him to 11/6. I hit him with a couple weenies and Tirion, putting him well within lethal range, and then he plays Belcher and another Legendary, Bolvar Fordragon, who comes in as a 7/7.

My opponent is at 8 health so if I can just get past the Belcher it's game. Now it was time for the burst. I drop both Dark Iron Dwarf buffs on the Defender to make him 6/3 and take out the first stage of the Belcher, the 1/1 Owl (yes, he was still around) and 1/1 SHR take out the second stage, and Tirion goes face for the win. It was epic, and I can't believe I faced down and handled Tirion, Sylvanas, Piloted Sky Golem, Sneed's Old Shredder, Bolvar, and a Quartermaster to win, in addition to having to do 52 total damage to account for all of his healing. I also resisted the temptation to play Dr. Boom and he was in my hand for the last several turns all the way up until the end. The win pushed my winning streak to at least 4 (if not 5) games and right now I'm sitting at Rank 16.2. Now if I could only pull a Quartermaster or Coghammer.
Last edit: 18 Aug 2015 09:01 by SebastianBludd.
The following user(s) said Thank You: jeb, Jackwraith

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18 Aug 2015 04:09 #208724 by jeb
Replied by jeb on topic Hearthstone Players!
That's an epic tale! That's why I play Hearthstone--every game can turn into one of those. nice job getting above 18. The games slow down and get more interesting. All kinds of weird shit will start appearing and you need to be flexible. Can't believe you saw a Bolvar in the wild. Man, I have never. You learned an important lesson from those Trump vids--your life is a resource to be spent. Use for face for all kinds of stuff, especially as a Weapon-based class. You don't get bonus gold for winning 30-0. Use your face to get stuff out of the way for your dudes. That's how you end up with a handful of cards when they are in topdeck mode.

//
I have been thinking about this card from TGT:
Mysterious Jouster -- Paladin Epic Minion {6}
6/6
Battlecry: Put one of each Secret from your deck into the battlefield.

Even though Paladin secrets are shitty, this thing is really good. It's a 6/6 for 6, which is acceptable. But, if you make a Noble Sacrifice (summon a 2/1 to be attacked) and Competitive Spirit (at start of your turn, your minions get +1/+1) pop out, that guy is a brick house, never mind the others. He'd be tough to attack because of Noble Sac, and then he'd get the buff. Plus it thins your deck of bad late-game cards! I like this in any Pally deck that fit it. Not sure one exists, as the whole world is going to be playing Tokenmaster, but this could be something.

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18 Aug 2015 09:31 #208728 by SebastianBludd
Replied by SebastianBludd on topic Hearthstone Players!
Yeah, Shamans are going to be everywhere at first. Justicar Trueheart + Shaman might be fun. Getting to choose whether or not you want spell damage, healing, or taunt when you use your hero power could be a huge advantage.

As for Paladin, Tuskarr Jouster looks solid. It's a better Guardian of Kings against aggro and otherwise it's a solid 5/5 for 5. Enter the Coliseum is also anti-aggro and looks fun but that's definitely one I'll try in Casual first. It might also be a good antidote to the Totem Swarm. As for Argent Lance, I can't see a reason to run more than 1. For some reason I'm really liking Warhorse Trainer as a Turn 3 play followed up by BoK on it on Turn 4, just to see what happens. With the jousting and Inspire mechanics I'm tempted to try and only run a couple low mana minions and get by with my hero power until the late game. I'd like to try and use Silver Hand Regent for double the SHR's, of course, and I like the idea of attacking with Coliseum Manager and hero powering a SHR to replace him after he goes back to my hand. I'm also pondering Garrison Commander paired with Frost Giant. Sen'jin on Turn 4 followed by Maiden of the Lake + Hero Power on Turn 5 could also be interesting. Eadric the Pure doesn't look all that great but I'll definitely try him with Stampeding Kodo. The bad thing is that you have to wait a turn to play the Kodo so that slows the combo way down.

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18 Aug 2015 11:37 #208736 by Space Ghost
Replied by Space Ghost on topic Hearthstone Players!
Finally diving back into this -- I took a hiatus right before the mech cards were released. Before, I was doing ok on ranked (up to level 4 with a warlock) and did ok in arena (averaged around 5-8 wins).......

upon my return, I have been getting the shit kicked out of me. I am way behind on cards (anything to get from Blackrock). I built a mage deck and have it up to level 16 on ranked. Still fairing extremely poorly in arena. I haven't tried brawl out yet.

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18 Aug 2015 11:55 #208740 by jeb
Replied by jeb on topic Hearthstone Players!

SebastianBludd wrote: Yeah, Shamans are going to be everywhere at first. Justicar Trueheart + Shaman might be fun. Getting to choose whether or not you want spell damage, healing, or taunt when you use your hero power could be a huge advantage.

I was talking about tokens--the Silver Hand Recruits, not Totems. I think folks are going to be playing Paladin with a Silver Hand explosion based off Buffed Hero Power, Quartermaster, Warhorse Trainer (3 mana 2/4 that gives them +1 attack), and Silver Hand Regent (3 mana 3/3 with Inspire: Summon a SHR). That can make for a lot of dudes. You could set this up such that you'd win a lot of jousts too, leaving out low-mana minions for things like Noble Sac and Seal of Light. Indulge my theorycrafting....

2x Competitive Spirit
2x Noble Sacrifice
1x Argent Lance
2x Equality
2x Seal of Light
2x Muster for Battle
2x Silver Hand Regent
1x Truesilver Champion
1x Blessing of Might
2x Consecration
Lx Gormokk the Impaler
2x Solemn Vigil
2x Quartermaster
Lx Justicar Trueheart
2x Master Jouster
2x Mysterious Challenger
Lx Tirion Fordring
2x Sea Giant

--Yikes, costs a fortune: 8060 dust. C'est la guerre. Warhorse Trainer seems weak now. Replacing with another Sea Giant. Could maybe jam Deathwing in there, as you could recover AMAZINGLY well with a buffed Hero Power.

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18 Aug 2015 14:03 - 18 Aug 2015 17:37 #208762 by Jackwraith
Replied by Jackwraith on topic Hearthstone Players!
SG, Blackrock is a pass unless you want to play Warlock Zoo (Imp Gang Boss) or Face Hunter (Quick Shot) or possibly Tempo Mage (Flamewaker.) Everything else about the set is superfluous. It MAY become useful with some of the dragons showing up in TGT, but I kinda doubt it. It's a fun adventure, but if you want key cards, you want to spend on Goblins vs Gnomes.

Edit: Keep in mind that I tend to think of cards in strictly competitive terms, so MB and Jeb are right in that it is fun, especially the class quests. There's just not a lot that really works on the ladder at the moment. That may change with the TGT stuff.
Last edit: 18 Aug 2015 17:37 by Jackwraith.

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18 Aug 2015 14:46 #208766 by jeb
Replied by jeb on topic Hearthstone Players!
Eh, I would caveat that a little by saying the First Wing of BRM is maybe worth it. Gets you Emperor Thaurissan, Quick Shot, Grim Patron, Gang Up and Resurrect. The only real stinker is Dragon's Breath. There are about as many really good cards in that wing as there are in the balance of the Adventure. What's missing? Imp Gang Boss is the best Warlock 3-drop. Nefarian and Chromaggus are both playable top-end dragons. Flamewaker is an archetype defining card. Blackwing Corrupter is immensely awesome in a narrowly themed deck, which could make you want Dragon Consort too, I suppose. The only other one jumping out at me is Fireguard Destroyer, and that's sadly saddled with Shaman baggage.

TL, DR: If you are exclusively F2P, then a case could be made for Wing 1.

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18 Aug 2015 14:51 #208767 by Michael Barnes
Replied by Michael Barnes on topic Hearthstone Players!
BRM is totally worth it. A bunch of new cards, fun solo challenges...what's the confusion here?

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19 Aug 2015 05:22 #208806 by Brewmiester
Replied by Brewmiester on topic Hearthstone Players!
Barthadys#1945 here. Buddy at work started playing so I loaded it up last night. Got through the mage practice games and opened up my Diablo III pack and got a Lightwell.
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19 Aug 2015 11:38 #208818 by Not Sure
Replied by Not Sure on topic Hearthstone Players!
New release juggled the quests again.

50g for three wins with a single character type (I got Priest today), and the release notes said there will be Tavern Brawl quests.

Between the 5 win Pally/Priest and 3 win Priest quests I'm now holding, I sure hope there's a good Brawl coming today. I don't even have a Priest deck anymore.

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19 Aug 2015 12:10 #208824 by jeb
Replied by jeb on topic Hearthstone Players!

Not Sure wrote: New release juggled the quests again.

50g for three wins with a single character type (I got Priest today), and the release notes said there will be Tavern Brawl quests.

Between the 5 win Pally/Priest and 3 win Priest quests I'm now holding, I sure hope there's a good Brawl coming today. I don't even have a Priest deck anymore.

The Brawl is using fixed decks this week, introducing TGT cards, so you might be out of luck on that front. One side is using a Jousting theme, the other is an Inspire theme--not sure who the heroes are, or if they count as one type or another (akin to Nefarian vs Ragnaros). On the upside, TGT cards! That should be fun. I am going to guess that the Inspire deck carries the day, as I think that power edges Jousting. You can lose jousts, but Inspire always works.

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19 Aug 2015 13:39 #208832 by Gregarius
Replied by Gregarius on topic Hearthstone Players!
rant/

Ugh. I may need to take a break from this for a while. Sometimes match-ups just put me in a really, really foul mood.

This was far from the first time I've faced this abomination of a Hunter deck, but it really pisses me off. You know the one: bides his time, drawing tons of cards, basically ignoring damage until he gets that card that reduces the cost of all other cards (Jeb or someone can fill in the actual names, I can never remember them myself), then next turn comes out with the guy whose attack increases when any minion is injured, the guy who gives new minions charge, and of course, the Grim Patron. Fuck I hate this deck.

I knew it was coming, so I deliberately set out a buffet of Silver Hand Recruits and watched him devour them and fill his board with Patrons. Somehow, he didn't leave one undamaged, so when I did the 2-damage to all enemy minions, plus a couple of left-over Recruits to mop up, it wiped him out. That felt good. Too bad on the next turn he just did it all over again.

I realize that not everyone enjoys the same sort of things as me, but I just don't get the appeal of having a juggernaut deck against some scrawny newb. Especially when they probably just cribbed the card list from some online site. I know, I know, I should never play "Casual," but where else can I experiment? When I'm playing Ranked or even Arena, I expect to have a hard time. This just feels like abuse.

Oh yeah, and fuck that Warrior deck that does nothing but gain armor the whole time, too. Seriously, I must have done over 50 points of damage to that guy, and still lost.

On the plus side, last night I played a ranked match (17) against some alternative-artwork Hunter who played nothing but Golden cards. It was a good battle, and I actually won. I'll need to savor that for times when I'm getting curb-stomped.

/rant
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19 Aug 2015 13:52 #208835 by Jackwraith
Replied by Jackwraith on topic Hearthstone Players!
That first deck you're talking about isn't a Hunter deck. It's Warrior with Grim Patron. The card that reduces costs is Emperor Thaurissan. Both he and the Patron came from Blackrock Mountain. Frothing Berzerker is the one that gains attack for minions taking damage. Warsong Commander is the one that lets minions with attack <4 charge on the turn they're played.

Don't play Casual. Everyone playing there is just using the same decks as appear in Ranked play, so you might as well gain levels by playing Ranked. It is annoying to keep losing to the same combo deck, especially with Paladin, which doesn't really have a good answer to Patron other than playing hardcore control, which means healing a lot until you gain board control and/or live through their Patron rushes.

The other deck you're talking about is Control Warrior. Unfortunately, Patron and Control are the only two viable Warrior archetypes currently in the game, so your best choice might be to either tune your deck against them or just expect a rough time whenever you're playing Warrior. Sometimes it's a good idea to switch decks (if you have the cards or like another class) or play the computer for a while to learn more about your own deck and get a couple wins under your belt or simply log off and do something else for a while (i.e. get off "tilt".)

TGT is now confirmed to release on the 24th, so things will be Wild West crazy for the next couple weeks, which means you'll be seeing all kinds of crazy decks, which should be less frustrating.
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19 Aug 2015 14:30 #208838 by jeb
Replied by jeb on topic Hearthstone Players!
Jackwraith is right from top to bottom. Playing "on tilt" is bad for your mental health, and maybe physical health if you are like me and want to self-harm when frustrated. And that Grim Patron deck is POWERFULLY frustrating. Like he said, when TGT releases in a week or so, the game will open WAY up. You could play Arena until then, or bide time in Tavern Brawl.

If you want to dine on Patrons, you need to:
  • cook up Handlock (Warlock with Giants and Taunters), Freeze Mage (unkillable, tons of clears), or Midrange Hunter (nothing but fatties late game)
  • race them (they can't win until turn 8, or 7 if they Thaurissan)
  • disrupt them (they need spells to activate all the craziness usually, so Loatheb can work. Acidic Swamp Oozes can kill Death's Bite early. Silence effects can disrupt too)

In general, be aware of that fundamental turn. They need 8 mana, so take the coin into account. If they Thaurissan on turn 6, then they can do it on turn 7. You can mess up their sets if they play them early. Warsong Commander should be killed if seen early. Leaving an Unstable Ghoul out there is a bad idea. Try to not leave any guys with less than 3 attack stats on the board before that fundamental turn, just to stymie the Grim Patron's impact. That's how Midrange Hunter wins. By the time they can "go off" the only creatures out there for Hunter are Piloted Shredders, Savannah Highmanes, and Mad Scientists-that-turn-into-Freezing Traps.

If you want to goof around, hit me up for a challenge. I have all kinds of interesting decks at the ready. Dragon Priest, Reincarnate Shaman, a very bad Gahzrilla deck can be cooked up, I could whip Razor Hobo back into shape. Sometimes you just want to play--challenging friends is probably the quickest way for that kind of fun.
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19 Aug 2015 14:31 #208839 by SebastianBludd
Replied by SebastianBludd on topic Hearthstone Players!
The only deck I feel comfortable playing with in Ranked is Paladin so if I have a quest for one of my lesser classes I just keep pounding away at Casual until I get lucky enough to grind out my 5 wins. Today I faced a Warrior who played a Warsong Commander on Turn 5 with no follow-up (he was out of mana). I knew Patron was coming so I killed it with Starfire and it threw him for a loop where he just paused for several seconds before playing Sen'jin and armoring up. I had 6/1 Loatheb, Defender of Argus, and 5/5 Ogre Magi on the board a couple turns later and he lays down Unstable Ghoul with a Grim Patron behind it and emotes, "Sorry." Really, dude? I have a hand full of cards over here! I Owled the Ghoul, Swiped the Patron and emoted "Sorry" right back. It was a swift descent towards his concession after that.

I've played the Brawl twice so far, both times as Mage, and I'm 0-2. I rage quit about 1/3 of the way through the second game because, between both games, I lost my fifth Joust in a row. I'm going to only play Mage in the Brawl until I beat that damn Hunter deck.

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