Hearthstone [IRC Channel #Skillstone]

[ryan]

screen cap to prove that brm had almost no effect on arena:

not pictured:
1x Boulderfist Ogre
1x The Beast

also notable event in the last game, my opponent played BGH while The Beast was the only card in my hand 4Head

anyways for context, I drated this probably about a month or two before BRM dropped, but then fell out of Hearthstone for a while and when I got back into it (around the time brawls dropped), I was playing nothing but brawls and constructed (but fuck the random deck brawl). only BRM cards that made an impact on any of the games from 6-0 on were two Fireguard Destroyers, and it was just because I took a lot of face damage clearing them like I always do when I play rogue.

sexy rewards:

pack had recombobulator, golden fun cannon, and a naaru =)

not a bad haul so close to tgt

 

[Tressed]

Having a lot of fun with this week's brawl. Don't remember queuing up with Control Warrior, though.

Also, may have just killed someone with a Windfuried Rend Blackhand. Priests, man.

 

[LonelyNess]

So, how 'bout that new Druid legendary?

 

[coolbiz]

Idk how to feel, the stats for the mana amount is pretty terrible but the ability makes up for it, but its like psuedo taunt, its insta killed. So yeah you can play it along side a huge minion turn 10 or even if it been thaurrisaned you can play more but after that its instantly killed since it will be prioritized. I very much like the concept though, high risk with a HUGE reward if it can stick around. It wouldve been nice if they made it a beast though, its already half way there.

But what about the rogue legend? Looks insanely good, their trying to push control decks a lot looks like to me with this expansion.

 

[ryan]

I think the Rogue card is trash, or at least that it absolutely has no place in the current metagame. If somehow Rogue becomes more minion-based, it might be an option, but I doubt it will happen.

The new Druid legendary is nuts. Has crazy synergy with the Druid class (Innervate, Wild Growth, huge minions) and works insanely well with Thaurrisan. I might be overrating it, but with how clogged druid hands can get, especially in ramp, I think it will definitely have a place in the metagame.

Paladin legendary looks interesting, but I doubt it will see play (7 mana 3/7, all opposing minions follow the rules).

 

[Tressed]

Worst case scenario is that you drop it with your late game legendary and get a discounted 5/5, which is alright. This also gives you something to do with those late game Innervates, since you can now drop an extra three minions. Aviana's got some nice synergy with KT and Cenarius, too, so there's that to consider as well. Seems like it'll be a shoo-in for most ramp druids.

I'm more curious to see if Anub'arak will be any good for rogues. Seems pretty cool to me, needs to eat silence or else you can get some serious value out of it. Of course, there'd have to be an actual control Rogue deck going around in order to use it, which isn't a thing now so...

Also Brave Archer looks ridiculous for Face Hunters, 4 damage hero powers are a pretty nice way to close out a game.

 

[Blazade]

New Druid legendary seems good at making a lot of big minions and developing a huge board, which is something they already know how to do. It seems like it'll be very nice for ramp druid, and it fixes the hand clog problem nicely, but it doesn't solve the problems ramp druid has in killing a lot of reasonable health minions quickly. It encourages playing more top end, which I'm not sure is really as necessary as increasing the quality of the cards you put there. I like cards like this though, they give us more variety in deck choice because they're balanced and interesting.

Same with the paladin one. That card is pretty cool, and I can imagine metagames where you might want to include it in midrange.

Rogue legend is trash, they're not playing anything for 9 mana, and especially not twice, and especially if you can't discount it with prep. Their whole deal is accruing a lot of advantage with multiple cards, so Edwin and Gallywix are at least on the right track. It's also an 8/4 for 9 that does nothing right away so I don't think any class would bother

 

[Mr.E]

hey guys I am playing hearthstone

 

[Soul Fly]

Idk how to feel, the stats for the mana amount is pretty terrible but the ability makes up for it, but its like psuedo taunt, its insta killed. So yeah you can play it along side a huge minion turn 10 or even if it been thaurrisaned you can play more but after that its instantly killed since it will be prioritized. I very much like the concept though, high risk with a HUGE reward if it can stick around. It wouldve been nice if they made it a beast though, its already half way there.

Or remember that half-useless innervate you draw on turn 8+ because of which your ramp was kinda fucked with your hand filled with big cards and your opponent with board control? Sound really familiar? This card just made Ramp way more consistent.

 

[Swamp Link]

Just got legend this month, these are the decks that I used mostly (I also played standard Midrange Druid and Hybrid Hunter when I got frustrated or had a quest, but other than that it was probably like 45% Paladin, 35% Priest, 20% Warlock):

I'll make a post after this explaining some of the more interesting stuff about the decks. I worked off of existing decks for all of them (except not really the Priest, although that drew from other classes), but I made all of the lists myself, and even the Paladin still changed about 20% of the deck. I think they're all good decks that you could use to get to legend if you learn them.

 

[Swamp Link]

Paladin
The most frustrating thing for me when I was playing standard Aggro Paladin (with Worgen Infiltrator and Arcane Golem) was that you don't have a ton of burst to just win by going face (less consistent reach than Hunter), and you don't have bigger minions to ramp up the damage, so it felt like you just play a bunch of small minions, go face a bit, and then they clear everything, and they can stabilize at 10 health or something. So I tried making a kind of Hybrid Paladin, where I ran the Aggro Paladin shell, but it curved into Shredder/Loatheb/Dr. Boom/Tirion, but that deck wasn't so consistent. So I made this list that is much more Naxx Zoo than anything else. Instead of Worgens, Arcane Golems, 1 Owl, and 1 Consecration, you run 2 Eggs, 1 Dire Wolf, 2 Argus, and Loatheb. The Worgens and Arcane Golems are just there to hit face, and Double Owl/Consecration is for consistency, which isn't necessary because you don't always want to play those cards. Consecration is good for value, not tempo, because using 4 mana only for removal doesn't help you get ahead on board much, so it's not needed, since this deck is all about tempo. But you are more likely to stick minions and snowball a board advantage with this deck. Obviously it worked for me.

Priest
Priest may seem an interesting choice for a Mech deck since you have very little burst, but it's great against other aggressive decks. Burn doesn't matter much in aggro mirrors (this is like a fast Midrange deck), because it's all about board control, and priest's hero power is great for that. This deck is also mostly about tempo, but you can win some matchups with card advantage. It's the same as any mech deck, but Priest has nice buff cards and minions to go with it. You play the early minions, you get board control, you play the midgame minions, you start going face, you play the expensive minions, you win the game.

Warlock
This is probably the hardest deck I played, I know I made plenty of mistakes with it. Combolock isn't a new idea at all, but it's never been a big part of the meta, but this is kind of like a Demonlock that just runs the combo as a win condition. The goal is just to survive and get board control until the late game. You have some devastating plays that can win you the game early with Voidcaller, but because combo is 24 damage, you really don't need to do that much before you can win the game with burst. You have to find the balance between board control and holding resources. Power Overwhelming can be used outside of the combo with Shadowflame, Sylvanas, or just a good trade. I originally had an Abusive Sergeant and Defender of Argus in there, but I kept losing to aggro, so I put in the Creepers.

 

[Matthew]

I know that it's probably a dumb question why you're not playing Patron to ladder (aggro paladin is great against Patron as long as the Patron doesn't suck), but I'm curious why you didn't use it at all.

 

[Swamp Link]

I have no problem with playing whatever deck can win, but I don't like playing Patron that much. I've played it a decent amount, but I'm not very good at it yet, and I'm not a big fan of it. And I like playing more unusual decks early in the season.

 

[RODAN]

Hide

WHAT THE FUCK

 

[Matthew]

I feel like that's a super hard card to evaluate. It seems very good but it honestly might not even be run.

 

[Blazade]

Swamp Link, I've been experimenting with a lot of board control priest like that, but hedging my bets a little more, in that I include some of the more standard pyromancer combos against aggro pally and hunter, and run lightbombs against Patron, Druid, Handlock, or other decks that can get out of hand. I never considered going mech though, and that opens up much better early game options so you can be more committed to that line of play. I'm definitely going to try out your list.

 

[ryan]

I've been playing a lot of fun combo decks lately. I started out with Firebat's Freeze Priest, which I thought looked pretty dumb but really enjoyed after I watched him play a couple games with it. The premise is Freeze Mage in another class. Although you don't have as many board wipes or as much burn, a lot of the time, it doesn't matter because there are a lot more minions and possibly even more cycle than in Freeze Mage, and it always comes with the surprise factor. Here's the list:

Inspired by that list, I built a similar cycle burst Shaman list with Malygos. It feels like it has even more cycle, which is actually fine in most match-ups because it's great vs control and you have a ton of efficient removal for aggro. Post-Thaurrisan, you can throw out up to 2x Lighting Bolt and 2x Crackle alongside Malygos, which gives you a minimum of of 32 damage and a maximum of 38 damage without any other spell power on the board. If you can manage to keep Thaurrisan on board for more than one turn, it can get even crazier. I like the Priest list more because double Mind Blasting people for 20 is super fun, but the extra cycle in the Shaman list is also really fun because you just keep on drawing over and over. Here's the Shaman list:

Haven't decided yet how much I plan on laddering pre-TGT, but I might go hard when I get a free day because these decks are super fun. They aren't quite old school Miracle Rogue level fun, but they're the closest things to it that I've played in ages.

 

[Tressed]

So uh, the new legendaries were revealed. Any thoughts?

I don't play much Warrior but I can assume Varian is going to be crazy strong for control warrior. Even if you whiff and draw three spells, you played a 7/7 and a Nourish for 10 mana, which is pretty damn strong.

Super hyped for Rhonin, seems like he would have crazy synergy with Antonidas and Flamewakers.

 

[Blazade]

I've been waiting for the warrior legendary, and I'm not disappointed. I always like cards that provide new and interesting choices for certain slots that can depend on the meta, especially bombs in control because they dictate what kind of early and midgame you want to play. Since it's a 10 mana card that does a lot of establishing and not a lot of immediate cleanup, it makes the most sense in a control mirror, offering a powerful advantage pressing turn against many slow decks, assuming you play around lightbomb, brawl, and shadowflame, even if it just draws you the cards. The most direct comparisons are probably Ysera and Nefarian, and while those cards can come out one turn earlier and be played alongside an execute/shield slam sans Thaurissan, they *only* draw you the card. So it's a tradeoff, but it's an option. The nuts is obviously when you pull Grom, Rag, Ysera, or even Sylvanas, Belcher, Thaurissan, or Shieldmaden/Loatheb. Come to think about it, most control warrior lists don't run a lot of spells, so even the chance you get 2 creatures is pretty high. I don't think this is OP, I don't even think this is the right meta for this card right now, but I will be looking to craft it and I am glad it's there.

Even against Aggro this card is not terrible if your deck is running a fair number of taunts, it offers a way to play a taunt like sludge belcher and also threaten to kill them if the game goes on long enough. Plus if you drew your bomb before your belcher, it offers a way to dig through to the belcher. Other bombs are still probably better in this unfotunate situation; Rag threatens to win the game, Alexstraza gains you life, both are infinitely more likely to be played before you die or stabilize, but if this is your Nefarian or Ysera replacement, I like better it in these matchups. Way better against board control aggro like Zoo and Paladin than against something like hunter and shaman but still.

Rhonin is cool. It's deathrattle is always relevant, I think any mage deck on the market would be HAPPY to play a 3 mana avenging wrath with more damage, more flexibility, and much more synergy in the the late stages of the game. Like Tirion in that it threatens very serious damage and board disruption when it dies, unlike Tirion in that they don't have to kill it. You could see this as a replacement for Rag in Tempo Mage, or Dr. Boom in a higher curving Mech mage. Like the last card this is definitely just something to play when you have the advantage, and like Loatheb it pressures for the win with likely guaranteed damage, they can't afford to take 7 next turn, but they can't afford to kill it either. 8 mana is unfortunate because they'll have just played Dr. Boom or something, and it's likely too slow for that specific niche it creates in most decks. Still a cool design though, I guess.

 

[Mr.E]

Rhonin's cool but if Velen barely sees any play, I'm not sure an overcosted War Golem with no immediate board impact will see much either. Toshley's fine from a synergy standpoint too but he sees pretty limited play as well, and it's not like Arcane Missiles at the point you have 9-10 mana is all that much better than most spare parts. (Reversing Switch and Cloakfield might even be better.)

Wyrnn is nuts. Kinda reminds me of the Druid card except he's bigger, you draw three cards and you don't need Innervate to potentially throw down potentially 2-3 of your pulls. Terrible dad though. :(

 

[ryan]

i think both are solid. i'm pretty sure i overrated rhonin because i find myself completely agreeing w/ mre about him. toshley is probably just better because you are guaranteed something from him, and a 5/7 two turns earlier is WAY better than a 7/7 on turn 8. more quickly contests shieldmaidens and loathebs and belchers and shit without being susceptible to bgh or worth silencing most of the time. i don't think rhonin is REALLY worth silencing either, but certainly moreso than toshley since you get 3x the stuff upon death from it than you do toshley. shoutouts to the synergy with emperor though. might be cool in a maly list or something. 3x 8 dmg missiles + up to 2x 8 dmg frosbolts in one turn is nuts. not really a freeze mage type of thing, but could work in a new control mage archetype that doesn't rely on duplicate or echo giants to work.

i think varian is very good but not nuts. seems easy to whiff on, but even when you do whiff, it still draws you three cards. sucks that it costs 10 instead of 9 because dropping a shield slam/execute with a ysera or alex or w/e is nice, but doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

 

[Pancham]

Just got into this game last month and I am quite addicted. I slent a couple bucks to build my collection, and I have no regrets tbh. The new expansion definitely seems like it is trying to slow down the meta, what with the new Joust mechanics giving more in entive to not run aggro. Will be interesting to see if Face Huntards and Patron Harlots continue to dominate the meta.

Anyways, with the new cards released, I think it is fair to assume that Rogue has received the weakest class specific set as of late. The legendary, Anu'Barak, does not fit the current Rogue llaystyle at all. It is way too slow to be utilized by Rogues efficiently. It is too bad Anu'Barak wasnt a neutral, as I would have fun with using it with other classes. However, I dont think it is quite as awful as Flame Leviathan....

Aviana looks beautiful, and I think Druid has the potential to utilize the bitch very efficiently. It is too bad it has 5/5 body, but can easily see use in ramp druid.

Rhonin seems really fun, but a 7/7 for 8 is really never a fun thing, especially seeing as the best card in the current meta, Dr. Boom, scoffs at it, as do his boom bots, to an extent. However, as everybody else has said, I am definitely looking forward to having a second Mage legendary that is useable.

Fizzlebang is one legendary I am on the fence about. On one hand you can draw a Lord Jaraxxus or Mal'Ganis the turn you play him, on the ither he is an instant silence, Hex, Polymorph, etc. magnet just waiting to be disposed of. He will not be staying around for long. Looks fun in theory tho.

Varian Wrynn seems like it has potnetial to push Control Warrior even higher in the deck archetypes viability. It is a very dangerous card, however, it could also cause you to llay certain tech cards you would rather not at the moment, like Harrison Jones, Big Game Hunter, or Kezan Mystic, and it can also cause you to play a card with a battlecry that you want, like Dr. Boom or Alexstrasza. But, as mentioned, the cases when Grommash, Ysera, Ragnaros, Sykvana, Thaurissan, Belcher, etc. are played make up for these instances.

Anyways, I am a new Hearthstone player and am always looking for new friends to add. Definitely hit me up if you wanna be buds and crap. Anyways, this new Tavern Brawl is quite amazing. I am currently 5-0 , as I had a Priest quest to do for 60 gold and decided to try it in Tavern Brawl. The results were quite hilarious with several people conceding early on as I gain a massive board advantage using Injured Blademaster and Light of Naaru, getting a bunch of low cost, high value minions (even pulled a Manastorm and Mukla early on) So yah hmu. Dooditstyler#1519

Note: I am on an iPad currently, so forgive any mistypes. Also, I am only ranked 17 right now so dont laugh at me :/

 

[Ranger Mike]

Anyways, with the new cards released, I think it is fair to assume that Rogue has received the weakest class specific set as of late. The legendary, Anu'Barak, does not fit the current Rogue llaystyle at all. It is way too slow to be utilized by Rogues efficiently. It is too bad Anu'Barak wasnt a neutral, as I would have fun with using it with other classes. However, I dont think it is quite as awful as Flame Leviathan....

This isn't really good reasoning for calling new class cards bad, as one of the major things expansions try to do is create new deck archetypes. Like by your logic the hunter class cards are pretty shitty because they are trying to make control hunter a thing(it's a thing now more or less but ridiculously rare), which isn't really true for the most part even though something like lock n load is very rng dependent. I'm going to agree that poisoned blade is garbage and that burgle is really gimmicky, though I think anub'barak isn't that bad, cutpurse is a solid card that is getting to much shit, and that shado-pan calvary is an amazing card.

Speaking of rng can we talk about the fact that blizzard is making the game so much more rng than it already is? Random spells, random paladin cards and jousting just aren't the optimal direction for the game imo. Also people saying that you can control joust's outcomes by playing control doesn't seem to realize that it's pretty much impossible to win a joust 100% of the time. Something that I am fine with is stuff like ram wrangler since most beasts are at least passable, and piloted shredder because even though you can't manipulate the outcome, you are most likely going to at least get an average minion. And the Shaman card is average to begin with and the joust thing makes it insane is something that is good to do.

Anyways the minions I'm most excited to use are Varian, Justicare Trueheart, Clockwork Knight, Astral Communion, Aviana, Cutpurse, Light's Champion, Shado-pan Calvary, and Cutpurse.

 

[ryan]

I don't think that most of the RNG that is being added is bad for the game. Jousting heavily favors control. You're right that it's impossible to win a joust 100% of the time, but that's the point. If you could, the shittier Sunwalker would be a strictly better Sunwalker, the shittier Zombie Chow would be a strictly better Zombie Chow, and Armored Warhorse would be broken as shit. The RNG involved with joust is actually healthy because it provides risk to playing these cards that are overpowered for their mana cost. Lock and Load is stupid powerful and possibly just broken, but it's not because of the RNG part. The random Paladin card is dumb, but I don't think it's very playable in constructed. The bad RNG is the stuff that swings early board control. Stuff like Knife Juggler, Imp-losion, Eydis Darkbane, Flamewaker, Flamecannon, etc. ruins the game because entire games can hinge upon the results of that RNG, and they very often do. Sure, the same can be said for Spellslinger giving a player something crazy, but this will happen significantly less frequently than it will for the aforementioned cards. They are always going to add more RNG because that's what makes Hearthstone unique and fun for a lot of players. Blizzard also said with the release of GvG that they wanted to reveal all the wacky RNG cards first because they are the most exciting. Hopefully they're employing that same strategy again with TGT.

Also agree that Cutpurse is cool. Dunno if it will see a lot of play, but having extra coins in your hand as Rogue is insane. Shado-pan Calvary would be garbage in current Rogue lists, but if something happens to swing Rogue builds to become more minion-based, it could definitely have a place.

 

[Unlucky Desperado]

Hey guys I just started the game yesterday, is there any advice on what cards/decks are good?