Hearthstone Players!

Amen, I've been playing Reincarnate Shaman since before the rotation (and Shaman sucked). Turn 10 K'T + Reincarnate is a game winner against a lot of decks unless you are losing on the board/burst. I have since moved a little to the faster end, leveraging Evolve (and Devolve) with Shaman in Wild. Ant has been playing Control Shaman with Ancestrals on stream to great success in high legend ranks. It's one of few decks that can beat the Pirate decks because it's packing SO much quality AoE for weenies and lifegain. Those Pirate decks are down to 2 cards by turn 4, so if you can get the board clear and make it make to the 20s, you'll win. packing piles of huge Taunts helps too.

I now know what I sound like to people who have never played Magic the Gathering.

Carry on, good folk

Learning games is essentially a foreign language. How many of us can recite the effects of a magic card just by mentioning the title? Or seeing the art for half a second?

Jexik wrote: Learning games is essentially a foreign language. How many of us can recite the effects of a magic card just by mentioning the title? Or seeing the art for half a second?

All true statements

It's funny because I played Magic back in the day and now I have no clue wtf people are talking about now. I've been playing HS for exactly a year and I'm finally almost able to follow the conversations here while trying to get knowledge from the masters.

Anyway, I took a break over the summer but am trying to get more games in. Part of the problem is that playing on my kindle is just a fucking lag fest. It wasn't like that when I started but now I have to use the gf's laptop. So after a big frustrating losing streak last month I've gained some momentum and am doing alright. Not only because I'm occasionally playing a flavor of Pirate Warrior that everybody is sick of (and trust me, I can dig it) but I think I've gotten better on average. Legendary pool is quite sad, even after forking out around $160. Dust savings is 8930... I think I've only crafted one card.

Hex Sinister wrote: It's funny because I played Magic back in the day and now I have no clue wtf people are talking about now. I've been playing HS for exactly a year and I'm finally almost able to follow the conversations here while trying to get knowledge from the masters.

Anyway, I took a break over the summer but am trying to get more games in. Part of the problem is that playing on my kindle is just a fucking lag fest. It wasn't like that when I started but now I have to use the gf's laptop. So after a big frustrating losing streak last month I've gained some momentum and am doing alright. Not only because I'm occasionally playing a flavor of Pirate Warrior that everybody is sick of (and trust me, I can dig it) but I think I've gotten better on average. Legendary pool is quite sad, even after forking out around $160. Dust savings is 8930... I think I've only crafted one card.

I've bought all the adventures and at least two pre-releases, so I'm in for what? $20+$15+$15+$100 or something? Ooh, and the welcome pack: $5. So, about the same. I was playing Arena for a while though, and accumulated lots of packs that way. Back in the day I was a break-even collector, essentially getting a pack + 50 gold (+whatever) per 150 gold spent, so it was about even. That dust added up and turned into Rares and Epics for the most part. I mostly still count on lucking into Legendaries. I know I crafted Dr. Boom (no regrets!), White Eyes, Justicar Trueheart, and most of the big classic Dragons: Ysera, Malygos, Alextraszca. Bloodmage Thalnos, Ragnaros too. I value crafting cards in terms of deck-building opportunities, so Neutrals >> Class cards. I will craft them, but the urge needs to be strong, so it usually ends up as a Priest or Shaman card.

Heh, I don't have ANY of the dragons. If it wasn't for Prince Malchezaar I wouldn't have many opportunities to play them. He's like a bad dad. Sometimes he'll show up with presents but the rest of the time he just hollers and beats your mom.

So if you could just craft one or two legendary minions that are all-around decent in most class decks who would it be? That's kinda loose but just for fun.

edit: classic set only

I depends on how you play. If you are playing Malchezaar, it sounds like you lean towards heavy stuff and would benefit from Ragnaros the Firelord, Alexstrasza, and/or Ysera. Faster paced decks would want Bloodmage Thalnos, who's like an Azure Drake you play on turn 2. Sylvanas Windrunner is in the offing here too if you don't have her, but she might be too slow in today's game. Once you have those you should be considering Malygos, who opens up quite a few decks for Rogue and Druid, and some folks have even tried Shaman here (overkill in Mage). After that... you'd want to start looking at class Legendaries. Tirion Fordring, Grommash Hellscream, Edwin Van Cleef are all great.

I should be asking, you have the Classic Rares you need?
2x Azure Drake
2x Gadgetzan Auctioneer
2x Wild Pyromancer
2x Defender of Argus
at least 1x of Sunwalker, Sunfury Protector, Violet Teacher, Stampeding Kodo, Twilight Drake, mind Control Tech, Questing Adventurer?

Yeah, those are definitely some legendaries I'd love to get. Have none of those. It's so hard to choose which is why I never craft anything. Note, I only use Malchezaar for the yuks.

Have about half the rares listed. I sort of forgot about Questing Adventurer but have been seeing him again lately. I used to use him a lot when I started.

Hex, if you're playing any kind of control or midrange (and why would you be in the environment of Buccaneer? I don't know.), then you want Ragnaros. He's a finisher, occasionally clears a key threat, is something that your opponent needs to deal with NOW, and for all of those reasons, is really versatile. You aren't subject to the timing of Alex (if you're above 15 life, you don't want to play her on you; if your opponent is below 15 life, you don't want to play her on him), or the RNG of Ysera ("Yay-! Another Laughing Sister...") or even the currently questionable use of Sylvanus (which, as jeb notes, may be too slow right now, since you often won't get anything really good for her, which is a ridiculous statement about the aggro level of the game.) If you can survive to turn 7/8, Rag can often close the game out for you or get you a lot closer to the end. Once they do finally address the current problems, he'll go back to being the stalwart he's been since beta.

Jackwraith wrote: Hex, if you're playing any kind of control or midrange (and why would you be in the environment of Buccaneer? I don't know.), then you want Ragnaros .... Once they do finally address the current problems, he'll go back to being the stalwart he's been since beta.

While Ragnaros is the best high-cost card in the current meta, I would counsel caution before crafting a copy. Right now, control decks are not performing all that well. As a result you may not get many opportunities to play an 8 mana card. And if you do, the best defence against Ragnaros is a plethora of low-cost minions which an aggro deck will likely have at their disposal.

Ragnaros is also being widely touted for a nerf in the near future. It's speculation, of course, but the stated desire of the development team is to increase the diversity of cards on offer. At the moment, Ragnaros is pretty much an auto-include for control decks in any class and it's been that way since the advent of Standard. That seems exactly the sort of situation Blizzard are keen to discourage.

I'd save your dust for now. There's too much flux. If you're desparate to craft something, I think I'd go with Sylvanas Windrunner. She's always been a tier-2 card, very useful but not overwhelming, and is less likely to get hit with the nerf hammer. Her lower cost and Deathrattle effect make her pretty useful in the current meta. And she's actually quite interesting to play, since she disrupts the normal flow of games very effectively.

I agree with saving dust right now. There is a high probability of nerfs incoming as well as the possibility of moving cards out of the classic set and into wild. I've also heard Ragnaros may be nerfed as well as Alextrasza. Who knows what else. With the next standard rotation coming in a few months things are about to change quite a bit.

Generally speaking though in terms of neutrals, I honestly think I've used Bloodmage Thalnos in a lot more decks than I ever thought I would before I crafted him. The card is very versatile. He would probably be my first craft, followed by Sylvanas and then Ragnaros if unchanged. After that I consider Harrison Jones, Leeroy Jenkins and Alextrasza the next tier down and Ysera if you like control decks.

My favorite Class Legendaries from the Classic in order are Lord Jaraxxus, Tirion Fordring, Edwin Van Cleef, and Grommash Hellscream. Archmage Antonidas can be good, but I suck with the decks that use him. It really depends on the class you love to play most I guess, but some of the Classic Class Legendaries suck. King Crush, Cenarius, Prophet Velen come to mind. I would consider dusting those if I really wanted the dust for something.

airmarkus wrote: I agree with saving dust right now.

I don't. Get those Rares. They are cheap and worth getting. they make your OK decks good and they can make good decks great. In my experience:

• Common --> Floor defining
• Rare --> Good
• Epic --> Weird
• Legendary --> Amazing and/or Really Weird

You know Rares are good because you can compare them to Commons at the same cost/stats. Epics can be amazing (Lightbomb!) but mostly they are weird. You can build decks around Epics--they tend to introduce theme. If you don't have two Azure Drakes.... get two Azure Drakes.

Rares are cheap so I'll slam those together. I really need a Brawl, too...

I pooped out a rogue deck with a lot of cards I wasn't familiar with for the tavern brawl. Had that 5/1 stealth guy plus Questing Adventurer, Conceal, the dude that gives steathed minions +2/+2, Sap and another boomerangy card I can't remember the name, and Eviscerate plus a few more. I didn't read the fine print that conceal only lasts a round which was fucking me up. Not that creative but what the fuck.

This one warlock guy had the dreadsteed action going on which was nuts. Did NOT win that one heh.

There are so many rumors out there about what is getting nerfed. I have heard (on Value Town podcast??) that Gagetzan Auctioneer and Azure Drake might get nerfed or moved out of classic.

If there is any card I would like to see get changed it's Small Time Buccaneer. Make him a 1/1 or cost 2. Wouldn't save us from Pirate weapon class decks, but it would help a little

Legendaries I like:
1. Bloodmage... so versatile and an easy include in so many decks.
2. Ragnaros- The finisher of finishers. Firebat tracks stats... he says any deck with Rags in it has higher win rate than same deck without. Dunno if he fits in every build though. He is fun too, Biting your nails and cheering for him to hit the right target. Nothing more interesting when there are multiple competing Rags blasting randomly. I have had 4 combined in a game. Was som crazy RNG blasting going on.
3. Sylvanus. A disrupter. So good if you have a way to cast it and kill it on the same turn to steal a fatty, or if there is a Rag on the other side of the board
4. Alexstraza. I only got Alex recently by accident as I thought I was getting Malygos (on my iPhone). But it shakes people up when they are comfortably coasting at 25 plus life and you knock them to 15. Doubly so if you played emperor Thaurissan the turn before.

Anyone see the new priest build floating around? Toast streamed it first I think, saw Zetalot use it today. Some dragons, Djinn of Zephyrs. Lots of potions and spells. You basically maintain and draw until you have two double health of a minion spells. Then double twice on a 6 or more health minion. Play confuse on it and otk a shocked opponent.