Hearthstone Players!

Hex, man, telling you: consider spending some $ on the first wing of Naxx before it goes away. If you have the first wing you can buy the rest (using $ or gold). But if you skip it, it's gone and you'd have to craft those classics like Loatheb and Sludge Belcher. Something to consider if you'll ever play Wild.

I like this Tavern Brawl too, and honestly, this is how I play every day. I want every day to be a new experience. I don't feel the urge to be Legend--it takes like 200+ games and that's a LOT of time. I see what quests I roll and then I try to cook up something off kilter. Camel Hunter isn't off kilter, per se, but it's not Secret Paladin, Freeze Mage, or Midrange Druid, that's for sure. I've also played Danksteed, Communion Druid (crafted Grove Tenders for this), and Renocarnate this week. Keeping it fresh until Old Gods drops.

I would have it already but thanks to insurance companies who won't cover meds that are prescribed I don't. That's the short version. I might still have a window...

The most frustrating thing about the game for me is not being able t build the decks I want because I don't have access to cards necessary. I never had that problem in Shadow Era because it was easy to grind unwanted cards and get half their cost back to buy want you want. I have a fair collection of legendaries. I play enough to be able to gauge which ones get used a lot. Sure wish I had Tyrion , Malygos, and Ysera though. What are the top 5 crucial legendaries to have. Don't give one of those milquetoast answers like, "it depends". Just list your top 5. I've probably gotten 30 glaivezookas and even two in one pack....wheeeeee!

Second question. Are their crucial cards in the last adventure pack that I will regret not having?

TIA

Historically the answer to that is:

Dr. Boom
Sylvanas Windrunner
Ragnaros
Ysera
*something from whatever class you like best*

However, Boom is about to become Wild-only. The other three are still essentials and show up all the time. I'd expect them to get even more common again as GvG and Naxx age out.

Second question? Did you mean from League of Explorers? Reno Jackson is becoming a distinctly annoying card that decks are being built around. Card-engining for the Golden Monkey is also somewhat popular. If you meant Naxxramas (as it's going away), then there are tons of great cards there, which will be Wild-only. That set has been constantly used in every deck since it came out.

However, this is something important (especially for folks on the fence like Hex). If you have any wings of an expansion, you'll always be able to acquire the rest. If you have none, you won't be able to start when it ages out. So if you have the in-game gold or can scrape the five bucks, you can stake a claim. You don't have to buy the whole adventure all at once. I feel your pain, but if $5 is more manageable to come by than $25, you aren't out of luck.

MacDirk Diggler wrote: The most frustrating thing about the game for me is not being able t build the decks I want because I don't have access to cards necessary. I never had that problem in Shadow Era because it was easy to grind unwanted cards and get half their cost back to buy want you want. I have a fair collection of legendaries. I play enough to be able to gauge which ones get used a lot. Sure wish I had Tyrion , Malygos, and Ysera though. What are the top 5 crucial legendaries to have. Don't give one of those milquetoast answers like, "it depends". Just list your top 5. I've probably gotten 30 glaivezookas and even two in one pack....wheeeeee!

Second question. Are their crucial cards in the last adventure pack that I will regret not having?

TIA

Going to have to hit with an "it depends," here, if only because the big split is coming. If you're going to play Wild, and you don't get Naxxramas the Adventure way (i.e., that you'd be crafting Legendaries from it):

1. Dr. Boom (GvG) -- Generically makes decks better. There isn't a deck that plays a 7-drop that shouldn't play Dr. Boom. It's that good. Bonus points for Neutral.
2. Loatheb (Naxx) -- Enables your combo, stymies recovery, 5/5 for 5--just super solid. Again, bonus for Neutral.
3. ...honestly, I would then be crafting Naxx/GvG Rares and Commons: Mad Scientist, Sludge Belcher, Nerubian Egg, Deathlord, Avenge, Death's Bite, Webspinner, Duplicate, Dark Cultist (the 3/4 for 4 OG), Haunted Creeper and Zombie Chow from Naxx. Flame Cannon, Unstable Portal, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Velen's Chosen, Tinker's Sharpsword Oil, Crackle, Darkbomb, Shieldmaiden, Antique Healbot, Piloted Shredder, and Annoy-o-tron from GvG.

Ok, so then, assuming you're going to focus on Standard, and have a priority on deckbuilding, which favors Neutrals, and assuming nothing rockets to the top tier from Old Gods:

1. Sylvanas Windrunner -- Strong on the board (5/5/ for 6), can steal wins, best in Control, works in Midrange if it lacks card draw. Exapnds you mind for creative plays, when Shadowflaming, pinging, &c
2. Ysera -- The control dragon, 4/12 for 9, draws you cool cards. Most folks have Ragnaros in this spot, but I think his stock is dropping (slightly). Ysera enables/completes Dragon strategies as well.
3. Malygos -- Opens a class of decks to build (spell damage). Rogue, Shaman, Druid, Mage can all try to pull this off. Can be hilarious drop in other builds too (Paladin can come out of nowhere to win off one of these). Also enables Dragon synergies.
4. Ragnaros -- Again, I think his stock is dropping, too easily stymied by a board of crappy minions. Still great though. Control only, but I have seen some mkidrange top out with him as a late-game bomb against Control once removal is depeleted.
5. Emperor Thaurissan is probably next, but that's an adventure card (Blackrock Mountain).
6. Archmage Antonidas can also be largely built around, and arguments can be made for Tirion Fordring, Edwin Van Cleef, Leeroy Jenkins, and a few others.

Is there firm date the expansions leave the store? End of the season?

I got my first 12 win run in the Arena! 12-1, no less. It was with a Paladin. I took screenshots of the deck:

Argent Squire
Lowly Squire
Zombie Chow
Seal of Light
Acidic Swamp Ooze
Bluegill Warrior
Gilblin Stalker
Shielded Minibot
Ship's Cannon
Sunfury Protector
Coghammer
Seal of Champions
Aldor Peacekeeper x3
Argent Horserider x2
Consecration
Hammer of Wrath x2
Cult Master
Murloc Knight
Piloted Shredder
Bomb Lobber
Dragon Consort
Sludge Belcher
Spiteful Smith
Drakonid Crusher
Lord of the Arena
North Sea Kraken

Control Paladin! I seemed to get Zombie Chow a lot, and that was fine because my plan generally took awhile to complete. Aside from the Shielded Minibot and Sunfury, my 2 drop slots were weak but serviceable. The Ooze ended up being relevant against some Rogues, and Sunfury was game-saving at times. Between Sunfury, Coghammer, Seal of Champions, and other Divine Shield effects (and Piloted Shredder), I could usually weather the 1-4 drop time pretty well and find myself with a few 1/1s sitting around while their board was empty. That could go well a number of ways- Hammer of Wrath or Bomb Lobber to wreck their mid drop while I continue to get cards, Cult Master for a similar fate, or to nail their Pit Fighters and other 5 or 6/x's with an Aldor Peacekeeper. I had 3 of them and they were HUGE. What a great card! If I had a Murloc Knight or Cult Master out, I could Peacekeeper their big guys so I could continue to get value out of them. There was at least one Turn 9 Dragon Consort ---> Drakonid Crusher. It was glorious. My one loss was actually early on, after just my first or second win.


As for the Brawl this week, nerf K'T! I've been on both ends of a Mono-Heigan game, and it's just dirty. If the Kel Thuzad player can manage what goes into his graveyard and copy it with Duplicate, he should be able to do quite well. It can get spoiled by the 0-card that turns a guy into a Pit Snake. I've also run Face Gothik a few times, hopefully finishing with Razuvious. Watch out for Lady Vashj; those ghost-Gothik's cost 3 or 4! Gluth or Anub'Rekan would be fantastic values anywhere but in this Brawl. Don't play them until mid-late game as you're trying to go for the win.

As Rafaam, I think you're best off rushing to get your staff in play when you do happen to draw it (using some of those 0-cost spells to potentially bait counterspell), and then just holding on for dear life to keep some control over the board. Also do your best to mess with what's in their graveyard. Kill cheap minions first if you can. I've lost to Rafaams a couple times with just 1-5 life points left. Don't give up! You draw Deathwing, and everything changes. Keep in mind that KT does not have any sweepers. If you can get a bunch of X/1's to stick, you'll probably win.

Jexik wrote: I got my first 12 win run in the Arena! 12-1, no less. It was with a Paladin.

That's awesome. I still haven't done that. I think I 10-3d a Warlock once, long ago. I haven't played Arena in months really, it's too stressful. Once the new set comes out I'll go back in. But your deck is nuts, man. 3x Aldor is GG, damn. Folks get all pissy about Murloc Knight, but Aldor is ruinous. Imagine this deck swapping out a Spiteful Smith for a Truesilver Champion. Ugh, so sick.

@Hex: So's we're clear, there are two expansions: Goblins vs Gnomes and The Grand Tournament. There are three Adventures: Curse of Naxxramas, Blackrock Mountain, and League of Explorers. GvG and TGT you just buy packs, like you do for Classic. Adventures are PvE (i.e. solo), and as you complete the little missions you unlock specific cards. You buy them all at once or in "wings, " and each wing gets you like 4 cards (in 2-of, of course).

They don't have a release date yet, but have said that the next expansion: Whispers of the Old Gods, comes out in "late April/early May." When that happens, they will split the Ranked and Casual rooms into two sections--one called Wild, where it's like it's always been, anything goes; and the other is Standard, where you can only use cards from Classic/Basic and the previous two years--meaning Goblins vs Gnomes and Curse of Naxxramas cards won't be Standard-legal. From what I am reading, it seems like most players are going to move to Standard as their default playstyle. There's millions of players though, so I don't think you'll lack for opponents no matter where you look for a game.

You don't have to play "catch up" as much if you'll stick to Standard. Just skip Naxx and forget about GvG and move on with Old Gods, &c. If you want to play Wild though, it's smart to have at least a wing of Naxx before the switch, so you can more cheaply get the cards later instead of having to craft them. Plus Naxx is hilarious. A wing costs 700 gold or $7.

12 wins is crazy awesome. I don't think I made it past 8 or so.


Regarding the tavern brawl. Seems like it was the kel thuzad players game to lose. Like has been said many times in here... Don't cast the minions that spawn weenie minions until you have no choice. I would wait until T4. One game I had the guy that does 4 damage to random minion. The guy who freezes a random minion. And Maxeena. I just recycled them for awhile as dude got his staff working. But he is down to 20 or less life by turn 8

Then if you play as Rafaam you see pretty quick if your opponent knows what he is doing and even if he doesn't. You still need to pull some decent legendariea

I had 11 wins twice before. Once each with Paladin and Rogue. 9 with Rogue and Warlock. A bunch of decent runs with Paladin and Mage. I stay away from Shaman, Warrior, Druid, and Priest. I think my average is probably only 3-4 wins; I've had some embarrassing 1-3s. I have 541 play mode wins and 468 arena wins since starting in Octoberish. So I do a lot of Arena runs.

One of my friends has gotten to 12 wins 4 or 5 times. That was back in the beta where he says things were more predictable. All you really needed to do was get some yetis, boulderfists, and truesilver champions and you were set. I think one of his 12s was with a 3-Fiery War Axe Warrior.

Wow, you guys got skillz. I can't get past 4 wins in arena. It's sad. I used the 'arena helper' thing once and it didn't help lol. In ranked I cap out at 17 before I hit a wall. I don't play ranked that much anyway.

Who's pre-ordering Whispers?

I pre-ordered Whispers and am looking forward to some new cards and the Standard format.

Hex Sinister wrote: Wow, you guys got skillz. I can't get past 4 wins in arena. It's sad. I used the 'arena helper' thing once and it didn't help lol. In ranked I cap out at 17 before I hit a wall. I don't play ranked that much anyway.

Who's pre-ordering Whispers?

I pre-ordered (the cardback, new favorite), and my kids spent allowance/report card money on it too. $150 to Blizzard from us, man, they are doing something right.

I'll get back into Arena once the new set drops. I would watch Arena streamers to pick up tips--there is an art and a science to it. You need a good curve. It's so critical that in the last ten picks you really need to prioritize this. You need to drop, drop, drop the early turns or you'll be behind and have trouble recovering outside things like Consecrate. Manage the board and know when to "flip" and start going to face and let them spend dudes trying to manage the board. I was a terrible 2-3 Paladin last time out though, what do I know.

This week's Tavern Brawl is: no minions that cost less than 7 mana. I was thinking of shoring up my early curve by running a token Paladin based around Muster, Blessing of Kings, Seal of Champions and Avenge. Then I threw in a Humility and a bunch of random fatties to accompany Tirion. I only had time for a quick game over lunch but my Druid opponent immediately conceded when I played Muster, so at least I got my pack quickly.

What's everyone else running?

Edit: I found time to get more games in. I went with Paladin because of the tokens and because it was my 60 Gold daily. After losing to a Mage and Priest I took out my card draw - since the first several turns are sometimes nothing but card draw - and added in some more secrets and other one mana spells because I reckoned that they could be played in addition to the big guys later on. I'm 4-0 since the tweaks and as long as I can grab board early with Muster + buffs and hold it until the big guys start coming out then it performs pretty well.

Blessing of Kings/Seal of Champions are great (twice already I've killed a Mountain Giant - thus saving a precious Equality - by hitting it with my Light's Justice before finishing it off with a 7/3 Avenged and Seal of Championed SHR) and I even managed to seal a game against a Hunter by dropping Dr. Boom before playing Hand of Protection on a naked Tirion.

I went with Astral Communion Druid, because I am a dick. I didn't AC in my only game so far (drew it too late), but I was also using Living Roots to get early board presence as needed and to frustrate some traps my Hunter opponent set (gets Animal Companion for decent early minions). I am willing to play Naturalize in this Brawl, chances are it will kill something big enough to deal with. The spells are largely ramp (Innervate, Wld Growth, Nourish) and removal (Naturalize, Wrath, Swipe). I did run cheap damage in Living Roots, Moonfire for Maly. Raven Idol can get you a cheap minion too. My minion selection is what you'd think:

• Dr Boom
• Ironbark Protector
• Chromaggus (really good to play this and then Wrath for 1 damage and the draw)
• Ysera
• North Sea Kraken
• Troggzor (soliiid)
• Nefarian (meh)

I ended up winning with Malygos into Moonfire for the last 6.

Some thoughts

• Other than Priest and Shaman, the Silence effect is tough to come across.
• Mage gets Mirror Entity and Polymorph. RIP you.
• Freezing Trap is a pain in the ass. Sap is also rough.
• Spells that make minions are good: Muster for Battle, Raven Idol, Animal Companion, Resurrect (eventually), Mirror Entity, Effigy, Imp-losion, Unleash the Hounds, Living Roots, Force of Nature (kind of), Light of the Naaru, Polymorph: Boar off Mirror Image is cool

/// three more games, all against Priest

• Game 1: He Mind Visions my Astral Communion (not Moonfire or the other two cards I had, drat). We both commune on turn 4, so it's a top decking race. He draws, in order: Kel-Thuzad, Thoughtsteal, Nefarian. I draw, in order: Innervate, Wild Growth, and Ironbark Protector, who's garbage because Nefarian will kill him and come back to life from K'T. Such is life.
• Game 2: A longer affair, Communion shows up late, so I have to slog my way to the good stuff. I cast Naturalize and Mulch (Raven Idol) to kill his Thoughtstolen stuff. I got an Ironbeak Owl from another Idol that came in handy against Troggzor! I was able to Dream Mind Contolled Ysera into his 10-card hand to deny it, but it was my topdecks against his 10 card hand and that won't last.
• Game 3: Turn 4 Dr. Boom and no decent answer. He was crushed.

/// update: Did the Mage thing. It's boring, but pretty effective. Lots of heat, Mirror their stuff, zzzz.

/// update: Warrior! Load up on weapons and just smash their face. They have little to no early/middle game. They will start making big dudes and hurting you. Manage with Whirlwind/Execute, but use that damage to play a cheap Charge'd Molten Giant. I played Cursed Blade here and was fine. Upgrade! Heroic Strike! You can dust off some weird shit in this Brawl.