Hearthstone Players!

stormseeker, don't discount the free-to-play Magic Duels: Origins coming out June/July. If you like Magic, you'll probably love this. Very similar model probably to Hearthstone.

I like Hearthstone as well but gave it up.

I am looking forward to this MtG Duels:Origins thing too. I think Hearthstone was a major wake up call for WotC. The MODO (Magic Online) client is GARBAGE. It started out as garbage and they garbaged more garbage into the garbagey garbage over the years. Go look at anyone playing it on stream. It's embarrassing and WotC should be ashamed. They have ignored the Apple market, the online market, and the handheld market with their premier product. Duels of the Planeswalkers is fun enough to make me want to play actual Magic, but I couldn't because WotC is awful.

I think they saw Blizzard's client and woke the fuck up. It's gorgeous. The sounds are great, the animations on golden cards are awesome, and the monetization has been very successful. Plus it's funny! Like the lighthearted little game it is. Really opens up the flavor-space when you don't have to be all broody. "Join, or DIE! ..Or both." I have to believe Duels: Origins is going to try and compete here.

Went 7-3 last night with Mage in Arena. Picked another and it's even more sick, though maybe not to my playstyle. Last night was Aggro and so easy. Just play dudes and attack. Opponent had to play the value game, but it was tough because my deck was just a crapload of shitty minions and burn. Today's is built for control, so I need to make sure I use up my minions and burn on their cheap stuff and wait for the late game: Force Tank MAX, Ragnaros, Troggzor, Pyroblast.

How do you guys keep drafting these multi-legendary decks? Who got the cheat code and didn't pass it along? Ragnaros and Pyro should be The Answer in a lot of Arena situations as long as you can semi-control the midgame and don't get run down by a face-aggro deck early on. Troggzor is less viable because there's far less guarantee of the opponent having spells in the late game (which is often the problem with him in constructed, too; without them, you're playing a 6/6 for 7) but he's still a big body.

I haven't touched the game since the first wing opened and I'm kind of hankering to try my reformulated Priest deck, but my GF's kids are out of town, so she's been the focus (gladly) and I"m gaming vicariously through you guys (which might explain why you're drafting so well; they're like dream decks for me! Yeah. That's the ticket....) OTOH, I could add Quick Shot to my never-really-successful Control Hunter deck...

Jackwraith wrote: How do you guys keep drafting these multi-legendary decks? Who got the cheat code and didn't pass it along? Ragnaros and Pyro should be The Answer in a lot of Arena situations as long as you can semi-control the midgame and don't get run down by a face-aggro deck early on. Troggzor is less viable because there's far less guarantee of the opponent having spells in the late game (which is often the problem with him in constructed, too; without them, you're playing a 6/6 for 7) but he's still a big body.

I haven't touched the game since the first wing opened and I'm kind of hankering to try my reformulated Priest deck, but my GF's kids are out of town, so she's been the focus (gladly) and I"m gaming vicariously through you guys (which might explain why you're drafting so well; they're like dream decks for me! Yeah. That's the ticket....) OTOH, I could add Quick Shot to my never-really-successful Control Hunter deck...

I don't bother posting about the shitty 2-3 Paladin decks I draft in between all of these. I am swearing off Paladin for the time being. I am 20-18 with that class in six runs. Blarg. I like Troggzor a lot in my deck because the build I have should mean they don't have a lot of tough stuff left when he comes down. They were saving Hex and Polymorph and Fireball for my fat stuff and those are crummy against Troggzor. I would not like to see me-play-Troggzor, they-play-Force Tank MAX, though. But I guess that's what my Polymorph is for.

I have been using HearthArena to track my Arena runs, that link is to my current one. It's a nice interface and I like to see where I choose differently from their algorithms. For example, on a choice of Frostbolt, Force Tank MAX, Dragon's Breath, they had Frostbolt 10 pts higher than FTMAX. (I already had Fireball, Frostbolt, and a Pyro for lategame at this pick). I took FTMAX because I make enough misplays that I need a little more lategame than they account for. I skipped another Frostbolt (83 pts) for Gilblin Stalker (67 pts) because I was at pick 15 and had only two 2-drops. I really want five of those and was getting antsy. HearthArena does a good job talking about the picks as you go along, telling you why you some cards more than others and providing some color as to why they move so much from base value. I undervalue Arcane Intellect, for example, but used their guidance to pick it over Dragon's Breath in this draft. It will work nicely with my controllish flavor to recharge my hand for the late-game.

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Remember that Quickshot is Darkbomb with an upside. You have to NOT BE AFRAID TO PLAY IT AS DARKBOMB. Folks have been hanging on to it for that extra card and screwing themselves. I play a BeastHunter deck and haven't decided what to do about Quickshot. I don't think it has a place yet. What comes out? Hunter's Mark? I need that to let my Hounds kill fatties. I'll have to start keeping track of how often I wish I had Quickshot in hand to evaluate this.

Obviously, the big impact in constructed is Emperor Thaurissan. Everyone is trying to cram him in everywhere. I see most folks thinking Druid Druid Druid, but I don't think that's the best spot. I think Rogue is where he is most exceptional. Rogue getting to cast things cheaply is the key to bursty wins, and unless things have gone poorly, they should have a six or seven card hand on Turn 6 when they play the Emperor. That's a tough situation for the opponent. Rogue gets better once Hungry Dragon comes out, and that guy who Backstabs everyone is pretty sick too. It's going to be a Rogue'y season's end.

I think Grim Patron is going to make the 3/2 2-drops come back to the fore because that guy is a HUGE pain in the ass if you can't get rid of it quickly.

A psychological barrier is broken as I get my first Arena run with over 5 wins!
www.heartharena.com/arena-run/63r547

All three losses were to mages, and the last one I was well ahead and then he dropped Onyxia. I proceeded to not get blizzard, fireball, or polymorph for three turns. Still, it's nice to have an arena run be PURE profit, pack + entry fee and a little more.

rocketkiwi wrote: A psychological barrier is broken as I get my first Arena run with over 5 wins!
www.heartharena.com/arena-run/63r547

All three losses were to mages, and the last one I was well ahead and then he dropped Onyxia. I proceeded to not get blizzard, fireball, or polymorph for three turns. Still, it's nice to have an arena run be PURE profit, pack + entry fee and a little more.

If it's consolation, That Mage deck I post about above went 2-3. Went up against a Druid and had no removal. Turn 3 Innervate Yeti killed me. I was dead on turn 8. Then a well built FaceHunter deck was next. The whole shebang: Abusive Sergeant, Wolfrider, Arcane Golem(!), Animal Companion to Huffer of course. Made it to Turn 6 there. Then the last game was a really good one. Paladin and I trading blows and cards for many turns. The opponent's deck was robust, so I feel like that player must have been having the same luck as me; because there is no way we should have been 2-2 and duking it out to stay alive. Faceless on my Troggzor hurt, and the followup with Yetis, Guardians, and all that was worse. Never had the opponent lower than 22 and just could not stabilize the board. Oh well.

Went back to constructed to decompress and my Beast Hunter lost to a top-decked Kill Command when they were out of cards and I had lethal on the board. Turn 6! Come on Blizzard, stop helping this deck out, it's not fun to play for or against. Switched to RazorHobo and rocked an Oil Rogue and ?? Druid who never got off the ground. (I combo'd them on turn 5, which, honestly, I apologized for).

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Beat a Face Hunter at Rank 14.3 with RazorHobo and it felt so good. Gotta mulligan to the quick start: Warbot and Mechwarper held them off while I used judicious War Axes and an Annoy-o-tron to dial up the frustration. Mopped up with a hasty Hobgoblin for the W.

Then I lost to a PACKED golden Druid. Set up a couple of sweet moments with good guys behind Annoy-o-tron, but the first was Keeper Silenced and the other was hit by The Black Knight!!! THE BLACK KNIGHT! Like it's August 2014 in here. Man, I am not playing around that.

I have a shiiiiiitty Druid deck in Arena that is 2-0 through, like, no fault of my own. One game the opponent forgot to play things on turns 2-4 and the other was a Mage that had to throw like four cards at an Ironbark Protector.

Having a good couple of Hearthstone days. I earned them--I think I was 4-9 in my previous three Arena runs. I am piloting a nothing special Paladin at 7-0 now.

Blackrock Mountain has been fun. I cleared Heroic mode on the second wave yesterday. That Heroic Ragnaros fight is hilariously unbalanced. I will describe it in Spoiler Tags:


On the constructed side I have my highest rank yet at 13.2. A lot of that has been RazorHobo. I have tweaked it a little, dropping one Execute for an Armormsith, which sets me up better against FaceHunter and Zoo. Druid matchups get a little worse, but they were never that hot to begin with. I am also genuinely NOT GOOD at playing against Priest. I think I need to just maintain as little board as possible and go for a one-turn kill off oversized Berserkers.

I'm pretty pleased with the Constructed deck I've been using for April. I'm halfway through level 13 in the midst of a 5-0 run, which is a great way to get those bonus stars.

It's a Mage deck, which is like the kitchen sink. I like it because it's not a typical 'mech-mage' deck, and folks seem to have no idea what could be coming.

2x Mana Wyrm
Flame Cannon
2x Frost Bolt
2x Unstable Portal
Amani Berserker
Duplicate
Ice Block
MIrror Entity
Echo of Med.
2x Fireball
2x Polymorph
Kezan Mystic
2x Piloted Shredder
Antique Healbot
Harrison Jones
Loetheb
2x Sludge Belchers
Blizzard
Emperor Thaurissan
2x Flamestrike
Dr. Boom
Alexstrazza

All kinds of fun synergies. Plus can get off to a fast start with the Unstable Portals and Mana Wyrms, but still have end game punch.

Thaurissan is an amazing card because it sets up some insane combos that are not possible before costs are reduced. For example, if Dr. Boom gets down to 6 I can play him and Echo immediately, which is incredibly strong.

I have the most trouble with Priests, although that's been better with some of my last tweaks. I hate Priests. I refuse to play as one just because I hate them so much.

Geoff

When I have a Mage quest, this is the kind of deck I make. I really like the "Spell" Mage decks, i.e., Mana Wyrm- and Sorcerer's Apprentice- focused instead of Mechmage. I usually run Mirror Image because it's in the bloodthirsty casual room. I like that Mana Wyrm + Coin + Mirror Image start. That Wyrm gets crazy big before they deal with it.

I think I am going to take a crack at Resurrect. I love Reincarnate, and I think Resurrect can be exploited in a similar way--basically ensuring a tempo gain from Resurrecting a > 2 mana critter for 2 mana. I think only Priest can pull this off because if I don't play creatures until turn 3, I am going to die as any other Hero.

The whole world is hip to the spell-based Mage decks now because of Flamewaker, who is KING SHIT OF FUCK MOUNTAIN. Ugh, I love this card. I don't even like playing Mage and like playing with this card. Such a tone shift from GvG, whose MechMage deck is very effective, but so fucking awful to play. My current build looks like garbage, but it runs like a charm. I have been wrecking MechMage with this thing on the Ladder. I had turn 3: Flamewaker, Coin, Mirror Image to just WRECK their board and set mine up. It was delightful.

Averaging 70 gold per Arena run now (viz., +20 more than needed to cover the GvG pack). Arena has softened up a bit with all the phone players signing up. I have about 1100 dust, so closing in on a Legendary. Probably Sylvanas. Have Dr. Boom, and I think Sylvanas is a bigger deal than Ragnaros or Bloodmage Thalnos.