Hearthstone [IRC Channel #Skillstone]

I'm RangerMike#1149, still have a pretty low amount of cards in general so it's not like most people will have much of a challenge. Planning to get naxx pretty soon, probably after the announcement, because I like playing mage a lot so it's pretty much required. Naxx>>brm in just about every way unless you want to play patron warrior right? Also what do you guys think the next new expansion could possibly be, assuming the announcement is an expansion? I honestly have no idea of what it could possibly be, but if I was to guess I'd say it'd be something that murlocs/pirates good decks.
 
I'm RangerMike#1149, still have a pretty low amount of cards in general so it's not like most people will have much of a challenge. Planning to get naxx pretty soon, probably after the announcement, because I like playing mage a lot so it's pretty much required. Naxx>>brm in just about every way unless you want to play patron warrior right? Also what do you guys think the next new expansion could possibly be, assuming the announcement is an expansion? I honestly have no idea of what it could possibly be, but if I was to guess I'd say it'd be something that murlocs/pirates good decks.
Even for Patron Warrior you still need some Naxx cards (Death's Bite is mandatory for every Warrior deck and Unstable Ghoul can be fun). That said, a few decks would prefer BRM over Naxx. Druid in particular gains nothing from Naxx until Wing 5 (unless you count Belcher), while BrM gives it Thaurissan and Druid of the Flame in the first two wings. Paladin also doesn't really like many Naxx cards compared to Thaurissan and Dragon Consort. Speaking of Thaurissan, that's a fairly good buy for any deck, and imo outclasses Naxx Wing 1.

I think the question is: why not both? :P

(btw Mage can be successful without Mad Scientist. Just run a more aggressive version of Mech Mage so you can forgo Mirror Entity. Also consider trying Majordomo Mage.)

Also has anyone beaten Heroic Thaurissan without Crazed Alchemist? It should theoretically be possible if you can rush him down fast enough I think?
 

RODAN

Banned deucer.
so how is the stormwind knight/deathlord priest working. im trying it out atm it seems pretty easy to set up for quick damage. if they cant deal with a t5 16/16 deathlord they are probably fucked
 
The Grand Tournament announcement tl;dr:

FIREBLAST GET HYPE

But seriously, Drake and Lady of the Lake + Grim Patron... at least they don't have charge, thank god.
 

Soul Fly

IMMA TEACH YOU WHAT SPLASHIN' MEANS
is a Contributor Alumnus
I don't even think Grim Patron's the most exciting one. Seriously it needs an entire deck built around it. Even the hunter change is meh.

But fuck, the most significant will be the Warlock hero power.

Do you guys even realize how awfully value 1 mana tap is? It's already pretty borderline broken (which is why warlock class cards are overcosted/sucky in the first place), and this can rip some shit.
 
Grim Patrons suck without charge in most situations, and while the mage hero power stuff was kind of cool, I want to see what happens with class cards for weirder hero powers. We already saw a bit of the shaman stuff and honestly that looked pretty interesting, even if most of the stuff used in that deck was over costed. Not a big fan of tribal totems as a theme, because hearthstone has enough tribal already and it really starts to write your deckbuilding because of the limited selection of cards with that creature type. Maybe a few years from now, as the number of mechs and beasts and junk slowly grows. I do like what that one legendary can do, in allowing you to pick your totem.

I'm excited about the set, but not about any particular card I've seen yet. Class cards are really gonna mean everything, but that nonwithstanding, control warrior and likely any warlock should have a good time accommodating better neutral inspire cards, druid will probably have a conflict of interest with the rest of the class' goals even if the inspire cards for it are good, rogue is probably gonna have an even clunkier time of it, and with proper card design, this could be a motivation to play priest again.
 
Fireblast Level 2 should have been "Deal 1 damage twice." That way it has some amazing synergy with Grim Patron, Acolyte of Pain, and Fallen Hero.

I'm looking forward to Shaman's Totemic Slam. Pulling a Taunt totem every turn can seal the game against Hunter, pulling a healing totem helps a lot against Mage, Druid, Rogue, and Paladin (esp. with Paladin's level 2 hero power), and spell damage when you need it is also good. At the very least it carries an element of certainty that you will always have a Taunt totem to stop their Molten Giant/Grommash/whatever.

Soul Tap is interesting but is too slow for Zoo and doesn't lower your health for Molten Giants. Malylock, Demonlock, and midrange Warlock builds may find use for it though.

Paladin wins big with Quartermaster synergy and late-game value. tbh I was expecting it to summon a 2/2 recruit or something. The main thing about this hero power is that it can fill your board really fast, which can be really undesirable if your opponent doesn't play any minions to trade into. I once saw a match where a Paladin lost to a Freeze Mage because he had a full board and couldn't play Kezan Mystic.

Also Mage has the ultimate combo if you can pull it off. Majordomo -> Choldarra Drake + Maiden of the Lake followed by Ragnaros x10. Too bad Justicar doesn't do anything to Rag's hero power, something like "Deal 8 damage" would have been cool.
 

UltiMario

Out of Obscurity
is a Pokemon Researcher
I don't even think Grim Patron's the most exciting one. Seriously it needs an entire deck built around it. Even the hunter change is meh.

But fuck, the most significant will be the Warlock hero power.

Do you guys even realize how awfully value 1 mana tap is? It's already pretty borderline broken (which is why warlock class cards are overcosted/sucky in the first place), and this can rip some shit.
1 Mana Tap is great but it requires you to play a 4 mana 2/6... so don't really expect to be seeing that to be seeing play outside of arena.
 

Soul Fly

IMMA TEACH YOU WHAT SPLASHIN' MEANS
is a Contributor Alumnus
1 Mana Tap is great but it requires you to play a 4 mana 2/6... so don't really expect to be seeing that to be seeing play outside of arena.
Really? Add to that Coldarra Drake (a 6/6/6 dragon which is already a super good stat permutation), and Garrison Commander, another very cheap drawback-less card though less viable imo.... and the Plethora of Inspire cards (with more on the way) this will defo push it over the edge.

I remember no one having faith in the Patron, because 5 mana 3/3 was "not value and too frail", and I think the evidence is clear that cards that specifically work well in combos make it to constructed decks way more than Arena picks. And this combo is potentially more unreal than the patron which takes 8+ turns and a hand of 3-5 mandatory cards.
 
Last edited:
Again, the patrons have charge in warrior most of the time, are extremely versatile in the way you can play them, the deck has a secondary combo in the way of Frothing, and 3 damage AoE is uncommon (Auchenai Circle, Lightbomb, Shadowflame, Flamestrike, Hellfire, and Demonwrath I guess, or like spell power blizzard and Nova Doomsayer). If you took Warsong out of that deck it would be far less competitive, probably a bigger hit than if you killed Thaurissan.

If coldarra drake is working in a combo deck, it needs heavy support to do so. You can't just play it and expect it to stay up unless you're already ridiculously ahead, people know what's coming. Say you Thaurissan a Coldarra drake and a maiden of the lake, you get 2 hero powers on 10 mana, not better than if you tried to combo with just drake. 6/6 body is hard to remove, sure, but it's still a risk. You bet your turn instead of hedging the bet like Thaurissan can, and dealing with Drake isn't all that different.

Maiden of the lake isn't staying up either if you play it on turn 6 or something, but it is admittedly very sticky on 4, and a turn 5 4 drop + hero power is potentially attractive as well. Priest and Zoo can probably make the most of a 4 mana 2/6, and the passive advantage generated by the ability. Priest just got its own fun 4 drop though, so I'm not sure how that affects things. The Maiden's probably one of those cards that will always be an option for a niche use, but not dominant, which is actually a pretty cool place to be. There are just a lot of good 4 drops out there, and that turn can be really important depending on the meta, so the Maiden's biggest weakness is that you're not playing one of them.
 
maaaaaaaaan the new cards look so slow! they look really fun to play with but i know that after the new card hype dies down, the meta's going to return to exactly the same state it's in now. i'm definitely an aggro/tempo oriented player and i'm sort of excited to get a ton of free wins in ranked the first few weeks this is out. idk how the meta would become slower but im 100% sure that these inspire cards are definitely not the way to do this. how does a deck with these cards even compete against any deck with a decent curve lol. the only 3 cards im excited about are lock and load and the two cool totem cards that shaman got.

also if anyone wants to, add me (qsns#1715) n_n
 

Matthew

I love weather; Sun for days
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Got Legend for my fifth time (I think?) this evening. I was playing Patron Warrior and managed to get both of my last wins against Handlock nonetheless.


here's the list I'm running in case anyone wants to play it:


it is all gold for a reason ;)
 

Mr.E

unban me from Discord
is a Two-Time Past SPL Champion
PORTALS BRAWL itshappening.gif

fun was already ruined by some asshole hunter whose response to my turn 4 Portal -> Cho -> Portal play was to play Leeroy and kill Cho. >:[
 

Matthew

I love weather; Sun for days
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Harrison Jones seems kind of out of place, explain?
Harrison fills a role of card draw against aggressive classes (Hunter, Paladin, and Patron itself) while also not being a terrible five drop against the other classes. I mostly have it due to the Patron mirror coming down to who gets a solid Patron board out first, and stopping the Death's Bite is clutch. Stopping a Bow from Hunter also means that they have to rely on Kill Command and Quick Shot to not do face damage, meaning that Harrison essentially saves you six health while drawing more cards for your combo.
 

UltiMario

Out of Obscurity
is a Pokemon Researcher
Really? Add to that Coldarra Drake (a 6/6/6 dragon which is already a super good stat permutation), and Garrison Commander, another very cheap drawback-less card though less viable imo.... and the Plethora of Inspire cards (with more on the way) this will defo push it over the edge.

I remember no one having faith in the Patron, because 5 mana 3/3 was "not value and too frail", and I think the evidence is clear that cards that specifically work well in combos make it to constructed decks way more than Arena picks. And this combo is potentially more unreal than the patron which takes 8+ turns and a hand of 3-5 mandatory cards.
Good luck trying to put Coldarra Drake in Warlock. Maybe they'll let Mage cards become all class in the expansion, you never know, but I kinda doubt it....

I'm also not convinced that you'll be able to fit Garrison Commander in any deck that's willing to also tap twice in a turn. 6 Mana for a 2/3 that draws 2 cards would already be bad, let alone one that also costs 4 health.

If you suggest combining lady of the lake with it, then its effectively an 8 mana 2/9 that draws 2 cards... which would actually be passable if it wasn't for the fact it 1. gets stomped all over by patron and 2. also costs you 4 health.

These cards are too slow to be played. If a card truly has a busted inspire mechanic than it will be run on its own, without all these other gimmicks. These cards cost a ton of mana for ridiculous combos, which means you'll only ever get to play Garrison Commander and Lady of the lake with a good Inspire effect if the cards are either surviving multiple turns or have several Thaurissan discounts. If a card has a good enough Inspire effect to where you'd even think about running a bunch of awful cards in order to try and proc it more.... you might just be better off running a good deck around the card rather than a gimmicky one.

If a REALLY cheap card with a REALLY overpowered Inspire effect were to for some reason make it into the game (pretty much if we got an Inspire card that was Mad Scientist levels of busted) I could absolutely see running Garrison Commander since you'd be able to frequently afford playing the card, Commander, and Hero Power twice for the incredible effect. I don't think any of the more expensive Hero power buffs will be playable though. The cheapest cards are the most viable when you can only proc their effects with Hero power.
 

Holiday

on my best behavior
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Just brought my first wing after saving up forever lolol. It's actually kinda fun running random Maexxna with aggro paladin lolol.

if anyone wants to add me, let me know and I'll vm/pm. Stoked for the grand tourney cards to drop!
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 2)

Top