Hearthstone Players!

...and deleted again.

What is? Did I miss something? Server crash?

Jackwraith wrote: @Jexik: Cool. So I've seen a different version with Toads, Jugglers, and Berzerkers in place of the Slams and Weaponsmiths, but I like your ideas a little better. I agree that Brann is probably OTT. Do you ever find yourself in a situation with too many weapons in hand or destroying weapons before you get the full use out of them? And does Kragg really pay off? My thing with him is that you're paying 7 mana for 4 attack when you could do the same thing with the Elite for four mana. And even if Kragg survives hitting a Crazed Worshipper or a Shieldmasta, he's still not getting through it.

I do feel like I might have too many weapons floating around, perhaps going down to 1 weaponsmith. Often by turn 4 I've got a 2/2 or 3/2 hook, or a 4/1 fiery war axe or something, so I don't feel like dropping the weaponsmith. Having a weapon is so necessary for nearly half the deck to function, so I'm not sure how many I should cut, if any. The dream is T1 Hookman, T2 3/3 Raider or Coin+ Cultist, and then going from there. I usually prioritize attack value over remaining durability on my weapons, because I want to get those big hits in, either to the face, or to hit their on-curve minion to save all of mine.

Kragg... I didn't really think too much about putting him in, it was just "PIrate Legendary- cool!" There are times that it might be better even to have a Reckless Rocketeer or something. I saw a guy play Leroy in a game (he was playing a totally different deck), and I thought, "yeah, this deck would love Leroy!" I don't think Leroy's worth spending dust on though. If I happen to have a Southsea Captain and anything else out, suddenly Kragg a Doomguard. Sometimes it's not that I trade him in, but I just go face like I would a Kor'Kron elite and then it's more difficult for my opponent to remove. I'm usually removing my opponent's taunters with Slam + Weapon, or Weapon + Heroic Strike, Slam execute, etc. Which makes me think that Spellbreaker might be good. Remove that taunter's taunt and put another 4/3 threat on the board.

jeb wrote:

I wrote: I don't have Greenskin though, or the Parrot. That's what I need right? Or that Epic one.

Jexik wrote: You guys are full of it! I went from rank 12 to rank 9 exclusively playing Pirate Warrior. The parrot isn't standard for some reason... I guess because it's not craftable or from a specific set really?

My deck right now:
...
2x Southsea Captain
L Captain Greenskin
.

I knew it!

That's awesome. My build was less aggressive--trying to set up a Raider/Gorehowl/Brann/Charge thing. This looks way better. Especially now as the whole damn world wants to see 3/4 of their deck to make the big OG play. Nice work!

The epic captain is definitely good. He's often just a lightning rod for removal, but if he sticks around for any length of time he's a beast. Turning the deckhands into 3/2's or Kragg into a 5/7? Yes please.

Greenskin is a lot less impressive now that the Bloodsail Cultist exists. His ability is a bit easier to trigger, but he comes down late-ish for this deck. If I don't win by turn 7, I have a much higher chance of losing against Hunters and stuff. C'thun decks... those are largely fodder. He really only pushes 1 more damage through this turn (and possibly a lot more next turn if he's unanswered or the weapon was on 1 durability). It's hard for me to know exactly. I certainly won't cut him.

I cracked rank 8 this morning with a nice win streak. If I weren't so busy the next couple days I'd probably go on a binge trying to hit rank 5. I think 8 is still my highest I've ever gotten.

That's kinda what I thought vis-a-vis the Weaponsmiths. She's a solid card, but with so many weapons floating around, I'd hate to be stuck on 3 with nothing to do because I don't want to replace my 2/3 or 3/4 Hook with her 2/2 axe. (Yes, I started with First Mate followed by double Upgrade for a 3/5 weapon turn 2. Some good.)

www.hearthpwn.com/decks/514054-yarrrr-4-1
I left Flame Jugglers in mine to try to keep the aggro pace up and because they often let me clear things like Twilight Elders if I have a War Axe loaded. Also, they often feed the Berzerkers. There's an even finer line here in determining when to clear and when to go face because you're often going to be clearing everything with YOUR face and, unlike Zoo, you often won't have good trades and, unlike Paladin or Shaman, you have no way of protecting (Shield) or healing (totem) your guys, post-clearance. I recognize the utility of Kragg but I don't have the dust right now and, if I did, I'd probably be making a Fandral.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I've added as many suggested cards as I could with my limited pool and crafted two cards.
IN:
Knife Juggler 1 (Crafted)
Eaglehorn Bow 1
Kill Command 2
Unleash Hounds 1
Cult Master 2
Houndmaster 1
Savannah Highmane 1 (Crafted)

Time to fire it up and see what's what.

Having fun with this deck against the other n00bs. 4 win streak so far in casual standard.

First match against another hunter was real close. I let him whack me a little too long just so I could do knife juggler party. He's super annoying. Anyway, I was down to 4 hp... Call of the Wild saves me again. Thanks, (+1) Huffer!

Game two against mage. He tried to kill all my shit but it was too much. His desperate C'Thun shot out a bunch of farts that couldn't kill my +1/+1 lions. Cult master paid off and I know you guys think Infest is shitty but I kept it and it's been paying off. I burnt a card because my hand was too full. I'm going to experiment with it a bit longer.

Game 3 all I can remember is he didn't play any cards til turn 4 or 5(!) and I don't know why. He had a fancy card back so I don't think he was new... *shrug*

Then I got to play Rakim! I guess he's not very good unless he has a microphone. His paladin dropped 4 murlocks which he had some weapon to buff and ran them into my fucking explosive trap. That seemed pretty sad but I guess he was committed. Melted murlocks instead of cones of ice cream. Now he's down to two cards so he got paid in full.

Crafted me a Yog and been messing with Yog Mage ever since. Is it competitive? No! Is it fun? Yes!
It's just all the freezy Mage spells plus Bran, the minions that battlecry spells and the minions that freeze and a few secrets. It does to hold up against aggro... Or most big C decks (C'Thun). But if you can set up Bran and freeze opponents minions and then drop double Yog tricks it's solo fun. It sucks that they don't extend the timer, because it eats your entire turn to cast all the rando spells. One word of caution. Try and cast him against a few minions or more. Otherwise all the spells target your stuff. I think it's BS that he targets your hero and it's a drag to Pyroclasm yourself into the grave, but it is what it is.

I am liking Weenie warlock lately. Lots of good cheap stuff for him to fill his board and go aggro

Just dropped in to give a thumbs-up to the Rakim jokes.

Haven't been plying much, mostly C'thun Priest for quests. Not as good as the Druid version, but I'm missing some key cards for that.

What are the critical buys so far? Looks like Twin Emperor Velkor is pretty popular, so I might pick on of those up.

Anything else standing out?

Twin Emperor Vek'lor is borderline Dr. Boom, but only for C'Thun decks, which I'm not really fond of at this point, anyway.

The zero cost (Forbidden) spells have turned out to be spectacular for Priest (8-cost minions are good), Control Paladin (Healing yourself for 14 or 16 is, likewise, quite good), and Warlock Zoo. Dropping 4 or 5 1/1s on the board and getting a Sea Giant for free is a game-winning play and, unlike the others, is only a Rare (blue) card. I've even seen some decks running the heretofore useless Reliquary Seeker because the ability to get a 5/5 for 1 mana with Ritual (unfortunately, a turn apart) is now far easier.

I've had good use out of Mark of Y'shaarj in my Druid Beast deck. Call of the Wild is excellent for Hunter. The Divine Shield cards for Paladin have been great. Undercity Huckster has seen a lot of use in Rogue N'Zoth. Every card printed for Shaman except Hallazeal and Primal Fusion has been excellent. Oh, and the real key to the return of Zoo isn't just Ritual. It's Darkshire Councilman, which is just insane and even moreso with Ritual. Meanwhile, Ravaging Ghoul is helping Warriors get over the loss of Death's Bite.

Yeah, I am spoiled for choice here.
--I tried out the Forbidden Ritual shenanigans with Zoo, combo'ing it with Darkshire Councilman and Knife Juggler. That's a cool card. I still lose though, so it's not unstoppable by any means--just a tough deck.
--Forbidden Shaping is really good in Dragon Paladin, as a lot of the minions there are "impact" minions like Cabal Shadow Priest that you don't want to just "tempo" to the board without a play. Forbidden Shaping gives you something to do without having to put out a poorly timed Sylvanas.
--Scenario: Yogg Rogue, me at 1 with some board, opponent with a Doomhammer and a taunt totem. YOLO...... Attack with my board, putting them at 9 or something, and Yogg kills himself, I glow, so attack, Polymorph Boar on a dude of mine, but he can't attack, dies to Arcane Shot, Lightning Storm, sure, Inner Fire on Van Cleef (yay!), then Humility on him (aw...), and then Bite goes off, giving me 4 armor, I attack and end the turn. Haha! 1 life, FOUR armor! Take that Doomhammer. GG.
--My kid showed that Blade of C'thun + C'thun is just fine in an otherwise N'Zoth Rogue deck (got a Healed Injured Blademaster for +4/+7!)
--Warriors seem better at Aggro than Control right now which is weird.
....and I'm a guy that mains Shaman and Priest! Standard is a lot of fun.

I'm also shopping for things to get. I have some rares: Selfless Hero, Corrupted Healbot, Rallying Blade to pick up. Lots of Epics, including the aforementioned Hammer of Twilight and Forbidden Healing. I didn't get any Renounce Darkness either, which is a bummer as I think that card is hot. I have 3500 or so dust, and want to get these and this balance of Legendaries eventually:
--Princess Huhura
--Ragnaros, Lightlord
--Herald Voljaz
--Xaril
--Twin Emperor Vol'kar
--N'Zoth

I went on a dusting and crafting spree (goodbye Kidnapper, Wee Spellstopper, Crowd Favorite, Foe Reaper, Boogeymonster and all you other losers...) so now, other than Ice Block and a second Shield Slam, my Classic Epics collection is looking pretty good. I've also made or pulled most of the WoG Epics save for a second copy of the stat-copying guy, no Blood Warriors, no Tentacles for Arms, and none of the 3/6 Taunt that gives your C'thun +1/+1 each time he takes damage. I might make a C'thun deck or two because I have nearly all the cards for it but I'm not crazy about that deck type and I probably won't craft that Epic.

After all that I have about 6,100 dust and wondering what Legendaries to craft. Sylvanas is my only neutral Classic so I was thinking Ragnaros. As for WoG I think N'Zoth would be good in my Rogue and Hunter decks and I find him more appealing than Yogg. Cairne is one of the few decent remaining sticky minions but he seems just a little too mediocre to commit to crafting when I'm already missing Ysera, Alex, Grommash, etc. Then there's that Druid WoG legendary and he looks amazing, so I have some tough decisions since I can only afford 3 legendaries right now, 4 if I dust gold Troggzor (yes, he's still hanging around...). And lets not forget Vek'lor which seems like an auto-include in a deck type I have marginal interest in. Regardless, I'll probably wait for the meta to settle a little before I make any legendaries beyond original flavor Ragnaros.

Having played since the second week of the beta and for the past week just like you all have in Whispers, I advise this:

If you're not going to play C'Thun, don't craft Vek'lor, obviously. C'Thun decks are kind of a gimmick. They're an easy way to entice a lot of people into the slower meta (and it is MUCH slower now; the only reason Paladin aggro works is Divine Shield and the only reason Zoo works is because Councilman becomes a big creature, not a weenie, very quickly.) You can dick around for several turns, build your C'Thun, and hopefully have a big showstopping victory. Hooray, Ben Brode! Then, when you fail to kill your opponent and he Hexes/Assassinates/Equalities/or even Mulches your C'Thun and then kills you with N'Zoth, and Co., you'll regret ever crafting any C'Thun cards, ESPECIALLY Crazed Worshipers. They're not worth it. Not now, not ever. Same goes for Tentacles for Arms. That card is brutal. You'll take way too much damage for way too little effect. Spend 15 mana on the thing and it still won't be worth it. It's the Poisoned/Cursed Blade of the set.

Get rid of gold Trogg'zor. Even if you play Wild, he won't be worth it. Live for the now. Rag is a good choice, as is TBK if you're going to be playing Standard (and making all those fools feel sorry for having crafted Crazed Worshiper...) Yogg is a jank card. You'll never play him if you really want to ladder. He's there to make big explosions and be fun. If you want fun, craft him. If you want to ladder with multiple decks, spend the dust elsewhere. Cairne has become solid again in the slower meta, but largely for N'Zoth decks. If you're going to play N'Zoth, Cairne is awesome (especially if you're playing Rogue and you can Raptor him!) If you want to stick with Control Warrior, you probably need Grom.

Well, I'm nowhere near as hardcore as you guys but I've been playing around with the new stuff and easing back into the game (again). So far I like the new set and it feels more impactful than the last one. I think the C'thun thing is a great idea that absolutely does not work on a competitive level. I love that it is a big gamble that may or may not pay off...it usually doesn't, but when it does, it's awesome. I don't think I've ever seen a mechanic like that in a CCG- I almost think that the game could sustain having a card like that mandatory in every deck. But it seems like whenever I play someone (at least at my pitiful level) that is trying to run a C'thun deck, I stomp them. I guess that's just folks working out how to do it or whatever, but so far I've been thankful for some easy wins.

I got Yogg Saron in my packs, and I thought "OMG this is going to be awesome!" It fits right into my Mage deck. I have used it approximately one time, in a game where I was floundering and had managed to somehow cast only two spells. And then it just blew up my own minions. It was funny, sure. But now I'm not playing with it.

It seems like this whole "hail Mary" thing is something they really want to work on a design level...because it is exciting to pull that on-the-ropes win off. And I bet in the eSports (chuckle) arena that is something that people want to see more than a turn five Patron Warrior win-by-concession or whatever. It can add drama...but it seems like the hail marys are tough to really make work in the meta. I dunno.

Murloc Paladin has been my success story. I played against a couple of folks doing it, so I copied some of what they were doing. Vilefin Inquisitor that changes your hero power to give a Murloc Silver Hand is great, especially paired up with the Murloc Knights and the pile of cards that interact with them. And then Paladin has lots of stuff to buff them up a bit. I also like the Bilefin Tidecaller, coming with a Battlecry taunt drop, very nice. And of course, Corrupted Seer damaging all not-Murlocs is a nice pick in there.

My tried and true mage deck has wound up staying pretty much the same, with a couple of swap-outs (i.e. no more Soot Spewer). I tried to enhance the ice capabilities, but Shatter turned out to be an utter waste of slots. But Twilight Flamecaller and Demented Frostcaller have been good adds.

I haven't worked with my Rogue deck yet, but the nerfed Knife Juggler and some of the other changes might impact it.

Jackwraith wrote: Cairne has become solid again in the slower meta, but largely for N'Zoth decks. If you're going to play N'Zoth, Cairne is awesome (especially if you're playing Rogue and you can Raptor him!) If you want to stick with Control Warrior, you probably need Grom.

Don't dust Grommash, lord. He is amazing. There is not another creature like it and it plain wins games. Control or "Midrange" Warrior* builds use Grommash. Cairne's stock rises when the meta slows and there are tricks. The tricks now are N'Zoth for everyone, Unearthed Raptor for Rogue, and Herald Volazj for Priest.

Jackwraith is right about Laddering--if that's your thing, Yogg is not a good investment. But man, some CRAZY shit happens when you play it, so if crazy-shit-seeing is your thing, I would think about taking the plunge. THAT SAID: A decent Yogg deck needs to have lots of cheap good spells and card draw. If you craft Yogg and wonder why your Betrayal-heavy Rogue deck isn't working wonders, it's because you are playing bad spells. I crafted Yogg, but only because I have Preparation, Eviscerate, Fan of Knives, Shiv, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, &c &c in Rogue, and a similar clutch of good spells in Mage. Honestly, the spell I use the most to up my Yogg spell counter is The Coin. I probably cast three a game with Rogue decks. Cutpurse, Tomb Pillager are worth including.

Mike: Soot Spewer going out for Cult Sorcerer should be automatic. Even if you don't run C'Thun, 3/2 for 2 with Spell Damage +1 is good stuff. I was also thinking about Murloc Paladin, as I don't have the cards for Divine.dec. You could use that Hero Power guy to make the little weenies and run Murloc Warleader as your Quartermaster effect. You don't have to be married to Murlocs to make this effective.

*Midrange = "can I reasonably expect to play and activate Grim Patron with this build?"

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An aside

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I haven't thought about this much, but wanted to plant seeds in the minds of the other game theorists out there: As HEARTHSTONE progresses, the Wild format will be reduced to decks that focus either on beating the opponent before Reno can be cast reliably, or will decks that run Reno.

The deckbuilding "cost" of Reno is that you are compelled to include suboptimal cards to ensure enough uniqueness to get his effect. As the game adds more cards, the number of suboptimal ones goes down, so his "cost" is reduced.

Thoughts?

Alright, I'll play theory and disagree.

"Optimal" is a tricky thing. Many cards are included into a deck because they have synergy with the other cards. So running two is to help the chances you'll get the real one that you need, not just "a card that's worth more than it costs".

I mean, if we could run 30 Piloted Shredders, would it win?

I think Wild is going to be just about the same as things were two weeks ago. Reno is a trick, just like C'thun. Some people are going to use that trick. Many or most won't.

If anything, I think the number of different potential trick decks will dilute the effect of Reno. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a Mage secret (or some similar effect) that cancels Battlecries.

That would be a fine "suck it" tech play, for either Reno or the Old Gods. Or Alexstraza. Heh.

The one thing I will say, there's been a huge slowdown in the game, partially from C'thun, and partially just not having the damn Healbot anymore. I'm so glad that thing's gone.