Hearthstone Players!

Have fun out there, everyone! I'll be touring our national parks for a spell and be out of Blizzard's grasp.

Zoo in Wild if you need wins, folks. Very ego boosting. 11-game win streak to Rank 14.1. Compare to standard, where I have 60+ games to get to 16.2

So, in my apparently neverending Quest of Distraction on HS, I haven't stuck with the Totem deck nor did I stick with Priest Draw-Go. Instead, I went with a couple new things from the Reddits, both of which looked interesting. One was (gasp!) C'Thun Warrior. Yes, I think C'Thun is stupid but I have all these C'Thun cards, so I figured I'd try it one more time. I won the first game without drawing C'Thun or any other of his servants except for on Shieldbearer, which basically means that this is Control Warrior with C'Thun thrown in. With Ancient Shieldbearer getting you 10 armor in relatively short order, your Shield Slams are godlike. Add Justicar to that and your health/armor total by the end of most games is ridiculous. I've won three games with it and I finished the last one against a Mage with 54 armor on top of 15 life.

The other one has been a Hunter dragon deck. I know: Wut? It's kind of stupid that it actually works, but it's a really controlly thing that takes advantage of Nefarian sitting in your hand for a long time and the synergy between things like Unleash the Hounds and Volcanic Drake. It does use Doomsayers for the early aggro and how many times would you expect that phrase to be used by a Hunter player? I'm playing it in part because I once again have three Hunter or Hunter-like quests (Beatdown) and it's the easiest route to 140 gold. I'm still playing more Heroes than anything else, though. Have 15K gold there and thinking about picking up Medivh...

The brawl this week is pick a hero then pick seven cards. The rest of your deck is filled with unstable portals. I think your mulligan come from your 7 picks. I needed shaman wins for my daily so I went with 2 X tunnel trog, 2 X evolve, eternal sentinel, and 2 X totem golem. My first foe was a druid and he played innervate x 2 then astral communion. He ended up surrendering because he never got any really good minions from his portals.

I went 3-0 to finish up a 5x Tavern Brawl quest from last week and a 2x Paladin Quest.

This was my selection (1x of each):
Zealous Initiate (mostly to have a 1-drop)
Equality
Knife Juggler
Muster for Battle
Warhorse Trainer
Consecration
Quartermaster

Knife Juggler -> Muster -> Warhorse -> Quartermaster is obviously the play. It might even be better with 2x of Muster and Quartermaster, dropping the Initiate and the Juggler. But it worked well for me on the first try.

This brawl is almost broken.
Mage
2x Mana wyrm
2x sorcerers apprentice
2x mirror image
Frost bolt

Turn 1 drop th wyrm
Turn 2 apprentice and mirror taunts
Turn 3 portals cost 1 with apprentice out

The wyrm gets huuuuuuuge.
If you can't win 10'games in 30 minutes, you are doing it wrong. Most people quit around turn 5

Really tough to beat if the Mage pulls the damned Coin but Warrior can hold its own against it in most cases. I had a "5 warrior/paladin win" quest pop up that I filled in under 20 mins using this:

2x Bash
1x Shield Block
1x Revenge
1xBrawl
1xFiery Axe
1xYogg

You want at least 1xBash and the Axe in your starting hand to deal with the 1st play Wyrm and the Bash(es) quickly handle anything they try to hide behind Mirror Image.
After you get the wyrm and apprentice off the board, you'll likely armor up faster than the mage can beat you down.

Shield Block can be easily replaced by one of the other Warrior spell-damage items to deal with anything else hidden behind the Mirrors early on; and, if you're not a Yogg fan, the big Trogg [which can also get brutal] or, better, Justicar Truehart [for the big armor-ups later on when you're generally shorter on cards] or just a 2nd brawl or Crush are effective subs.

Piled up a bunch of quick wins against most opponents save those who either Portal'd very big Taunt critters very early or @#$#@$ Kel'Thuzad [how I hate that bloody card].

Whew I played I guy had something I don't think can be beat. He played Druid going second. Turn two he gets his mana up to 7 with the coin and two innervates. Then he drops. TROGGZOR. From goblins v gnomes and you haven't seen him much I bet

A 6/6 that summons a burly rock jaw trog if you cast a spell. And of course you know those burly trogs get bigger if you cast a spell as well.

I have no idea how you could beat that

MacDirk Diggler wrote: Whew I played I guy had something I don't think can be beat. He played Druid going second. Turn two he gets his mana up to 7 with the coin and two innervates. Then he drops. TROGGZOR. From goblins v gnomes and you haven't seen him much I bet

A 6/6 that summons a burly rock jaw trog if you cast a spell. And of course you know those burly trogs get bigger if you cast a spell as well.

I have no idea how you could beat that

I ran into that one too....and got my ass handed to me in a brutal fashion. If he doesn't get Trogg out until turn 3 or 4, Warrior can Brawl to clear the board at 5 mana and Shaman can drop that big "do a shitload of damage to everything" spell...beyond that, it's probably gonna take most classes too long to get their board-clear out....

I had three paladin quests to clear, so played through this one a bunch of times.

I had equality, consecrate, 2x shielded minibot, Muster, 2x argent protector. Ended up going 5-1, which I was delighted with.

I saw that same Mage combo noted above - my Consecrate made very short work of that, and he resigned pretty quickly.

The most humorous game I had was when I portaled YOG,, which went nuts after all the portals. However I didn't quite win, and on the following turn he also played YOG! My opponent ended up winning, but I lost with a big grin on my face.

I agree consecrate and the shaman 2-3 damage spell or priest board wipes can mess up the mana wyrm mirror taunt combo. But that's turn four. When I get wiped the other guy is half dead already. I now include polymorph sheep spell. If I get Druid I save it to neuter whatever fatty they plan on dropping with innervate

I've been really happy with my main ladder deck - Midrange Nzoth Hunter. Been playing this for the last two seasons, and after a few tweaks have made it to Rank 9 so far this month.

Rattle Battle
2x Hunters Mark
2x Tracking
2x Firey Bat
1x Bear Trap
2x Huge Toad
2x Animal Companion
2x Kill Command
1x Power Shot
1x Unleash The Hounds
1x Carrion Grub
1x Defender of Argus
2x Houndmaster
1x Infected Tauren
2x Infected Wolf
1x Princess Huhuran
2x Savannah Highmane
1x Sylvanus
1x Black Knight
2x Call of the Wild
1x Nzoth

This deck is a helluva lot of fun to play. It has punch through all phases of the game, and back-to-back Call of the Wilds are devastating. 5-2 charge, 5-4 taunt, plus all minions are +1 attack for 8 mana? Thank you, yes.

I'm considering replacing Princess, since I seem to not use the special ability much, but it is a really solid card stats-wise for the value. And for those games when you can trigger Sylvanus or a Highmane - very useful.

Proper use of Tracking is key to this. Don't play them too early - wait until you see what gap you have, and use that card to fill it. If you're facing a super aggro-deck, try to get your taunts out, or Power Shot. If you're against super-control, get cards that fill the gaps in your mana curve and keep the pressure on, or grab Black Knight to plow through that annoying taunt. IMO Tracking is an incredibly good card.

If you're up against C'Thun there are several combos that will clear him, mostly involving Hunter's Mark. So make sure to hang onto one of those, and pair it up with Power Shot or Unleash. Sylvanus can also be a credible anti-Cthun deterrent if you keep the board clear, or playing Call of the Wild can soak up enough of the initial damage to make C'Thun manageable.

Geoff

Great deck, englestein. I don't have Huhuran, so heartened to hear you say she's not required. I also don't have The Black Knight though, and that's a tougher loss. I think a Dark Arakkoa or Twin Emperor could make a game unwinnable if I swapped in Stampeding Kodo (deals with the 2/6 Warrior Taunt). Thoughts there?

I am kind of adrift right now in Standard. I was into Dragon Priest. I was into Midrange Hunter. I was into Control Shaman--nothing is really captivating me this season, except maybe Moonkin Druid, and that's a 50:50 deck at best, north of 15. My Quests say I should play Warrior now, but my Reno Warrior deck is sooooo boring. (I called it "naptime"). I don't have the Pirates for a better build.

In place of Princess H you might consider a Ram Wrangler or a Forlorn Stalker (which also synergizes with the death rattles).

Stampeding Kodo works nicely against Bloodhoof Brave and Shaman decks, and is a decent sub. But Black Knight is really invaluable against the Twin Emperors, the Shaman 5-5 taunt, Druid's taunts, and the Priest 3-6 dragon taunt. It's also really entertaining when someone's given their C'Thun taunt.

Without having BK, your Hunters Marks become way more important to manage properly.

Hunter is a solid way to go these days with the meta seeming to be control until some Ragnaros/ ysera/ old God can win the game 20 cards in. Or they Justicar up and play for survival fatigue. I suck with Hunter but it's on my list of goals.

Jeb. I made me a moony Druid too, but moonkin himself is not so great. I like violet teacher turn 4 with innervate and power of the wild etc. I always try and save POW for Teacher. Auctioneer is nice with innervate as well. I try and save all my spells until mid game. Only casting as necessary to minimize damage. It's hilarious how many other people are doing the same thing. Turn 5 and you and a priest or rogue are basically having a staring contest. Moonkin is so easy to kill and can't be cast with your other minions unless you like getting wiped with cheap spells. I don't use Fandral or any of the 50/50 cards that go with him except Raven Idol and I look for spells with it. Yogg must be fed. Only time I was beaten by a Fandral deck ever, was the first time. Now I just kill shot him straight away. What you run in yours Jeb? I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

This deck, swapping Darnassus Aspirant for Justicar Trueheart:
www.hearthpwn.com/decks/529314-hotforms-...uid-shaman-destroyer

Moonkin buffs Living Roots to 4, Wrath to 3/5, Moonfire to 3, Swipe to a ridiculous 6/3, Starfall to 7-to-one or Flamestrike. Not to mention what comes from Raven Idol. Between Thalnos, Azure Drake, and Moonkin, you have some really crazy plays from Spell Damage effects.

I'll play Raven Idol turn 1 to find Ramp if the rest of the hand calls for it. I'll play Nourish for Ramp on turn 5, Especially if I have an effective Wrath too. Fandral isn't the key or anything, he's just really good, and can be CRAZY good.