Lurker > NewerShadow

Maybe its just the third expansion factor, but a bunch of the revealed cards (https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/cards?set=descent-of-dragons) seem stronger than usual, even in neutral. Dragon synergy seems strong as usual, but even stuff like 7/7/7 taunt/untargetable, 8 mana 4/10, battlecry deal 4 damage to 2 random enemy minions are both strong on commons, and in general on things that are going to be in a tribal discover pool a lot. The breath spells also seem strong when theyre turned on.

Maybe some, but lacking a mobile app probably means it will miss out on a decent amount of people looking to jump.

As someone who has been looking to at least diversify into MTGA along with Hearthstone, my main obstacle is actually a Mac client, since trying to get it to run under WINE was really buggy for me. I did see that its actually on their radar recently, at least.

Looks like that leaked list of cards was accurate after all. Official post:
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23156374/can-you-survive-the-doom-in-the-tomb

Card List:
Druid: Astral Communion, Kun the Forgotten King
Mage: Babbling Book, Flamewaker
Paladin: Mysterious Challenger, Avenge
Hunter: Lock and Load, Call of the Wild
Shaman: Evolve, Thing from Below
Rogue: Shaku, the Collector, Swashburglar
Priest: Lightbomb, Vol'jin
Warlock: Imp Gang Boss, Renounce Darkness
Warrior: Varian Wrynn, Bloodhoof Brave
Neutral: N'Zoth, the Corruptor, Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord, The Curator, Emperor Thaurissan

There are also some new tavern brawls, and a bunch of quests with pack rewards, plus dual-class arenas return.

i finally cleared wing 3 on Heroic today - I ended up running the token Druid deck in the end, since it worked so well with the tomb. Trying with Mage of any variety was pretty miserable before that, though. I fully broke Jythiros of Questions once, which was fun, and the played deathrattles gain reborn treasure was really strong. Wing 4 opens tomorrow, and I think Im actually looking forward to it.

I am surprised you admitting to be a Northwestern fan.

While this may be hard for you specifically to comprehend, Corrik, being a fan sometimes means owning the negatives that come up for your team (and being frustrated by them). If you cant sometimes accept the surreal like having the worst completion percentage of any p5 team, youre just being a fair weather fan.

Also, Northwestern won their division last year, theres no shame in being a fan! Given that its my alma mater, its not really surprising though.

Current Northwestern combined QB passing, through 4 games:
61/130 for 566 yards; 2 TD/7 INT, 4 fumbles lost; 56 rushing attempts/107 yards/1 TD (May include 11 sacks/-101 yards?)

hard to imagine preseason that we would be missing the days of Trevor Siemian and Clayton Thorson, but here we are.

We know theyre bringing 23 cards back for sure, since there was an official post on it on Thursday. Its supposed to be a meta shakeup event, to fill the time between expansions. The specific leaked list isnt confirmed aside from the two examples, but the official list will be revealed on Friday.
JonThePenguin posted...

Oh hey cards from Wild being made temporarily eligible for Standard, complete with everyone being given non-disencantable copies of them. Ragnaros and NZoth are the examples given.

Also 1000 win portraits to really drive Ulti crazy.

https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23156370?linkId=100000008179621

Northwestern defense: pretty good! (Held Wisconsin to 10 offensive points)
Northwestern offense: unspeakably bad! And thats before the quarterback injuries!

Overall: just play the song.


I think I much prefer going undefeated in non-conference and whatever in conference to starting off terrible and backdooring into a bunch of wins.

I cleared the second plague lord on Heroic with Reno by managing to pull off the secret deck. Treasures were -1 enemy minion attack, Runaway Gyrocopter, Draw 2 more per turn/Immune Fatigue, and the Hearthstone (which is stupidly powerful on its own). Turns out you can find another Hearthstone with the "Discover a treasure" power, so I looped to Bob's tavern 3 times and cleared.

The secret plan is nowhere near consistent in Heroic Wing 2 though, there are a ton of dangerous bosses that can show up in the first 3 encounters.

I think you misread; I died before reaching him so he started from full (because I did no damage to him).

Managed to kill the first boss on normal in one cycle (on my second try, but I lost on encounter 7 the first try, so he started from full). My deck abused the treasure where your hero power costs (0) and is refreshed after costing any even-cost card, with Renos default hero power.

Treasures seem very powerful this time around, and Bob has more actions that you can take.

Wings 1-2 are live now, if you want to take Reno or Sir Finley for a spin.

Tombs of Terror patch notes: https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23097372/hearthstone-update-september-10-tombs-of-terror

With a couple of significant changes:

*Discover:
Cards that Discover from a random pool no longer apply a class bonus. As Discover pools have gotten more specific, some are too narrow and repetitive. This change will increase the variety of cards from random Discover pools.

*Elise the Enlightened will now duplicate cards in hand from left to right, instead of randomly

I wonder if the discover change was just a reaction to Warrior discovers + Paladin Stonehill, or if theyre going to print some new discover card next set that would be broken otherwise (See: Mana Wyrm nerf before a couple expansions with small spells.)

Purdue just emptied a full clip of bullets into their own feet tonight at Nevada, going from up 31-14 in the third quarter to punting up 31-24 with 3:40 to go, to losing in regulation on a 56-yard field goal by a freshman kicker. Amazing to watch as a mostly neutral fan, just a phenomenal choke job.

Yeah, I had a weird one as well:

While playing Warrior you beat Warrior 93.8% of the time in Tavern Brawl.

It looks like they counted the mini Blackrock Mountain adventure in the stats, and I guess all of those games counted as Warrior vs Warrior?

GranzonEx posted...

isn't today when shounen jump comes back or is it a two week break?

Apparently the normal leaker that the two major scan sites use fell through (because of a typhoon, apparently), with no ETA for new chapters. Viz does have chapters scheduled for release on Sunday as usual though.

Got the Shaman quest as my free quest, and Shaman legendary from the bundle, so thats two things I wont need to craft.

Early thoughts: Druid quest is really consistent so far, at least without seeing a true aggro deck. The Choose One rush minion is really strong, and between the choose 1 Discover spell and the unspent mana minion, you have options for early game to complete the quest around turn 5/6.

You can open any packs you have already (either from preorders or the free ones from tavern brawl) in a fireside gathering, but you cant buy any new ones with gold. Since theyre running the prerelease event, you can just set up a private/unlisted gathering at https://firesidegatherings.com/en-us/ if you just want to open your packs.

Cracked my packs early to avoid the rush on Tuesday. The main highlights were the Rogue/Druid quests, other legendaries were Warrior quest and the 10/10 neutral (from the 80 pack preorder).

I think my day 1 crafting list is Armagedillo and the Shaman quest, while Ill watch out for playability of the Rogue/Shaman legendaries and the Hunter quest. I want to mess around with a Taunt Warrior with Oondasta, but I think Quest Rogue/Shaman will probably be best for climbing early with quicker games, so they might be my starting points to get from rank 10 to 5.

Full card list is out: https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/cards?set=saviors-of-uldum
Its probably easiest to view if you sort by mana cost.

Thoughts after a quick scan:

The rogue quest looks really powerful to me - why do they get immune and why is the requirement so low? Like this slots into a deck with hench clan burglars and blink foxes (except for the mirror) easily, just add another steal card or three for consistency.

In Mage, draw a secret, set its mana cost to 0 is powerful. Shaman gets legally not Maelstrom Portal.

Notable neutrals: new egg, body wrapper, Pit Crocolisk (might fit in a battlecry Shaman deck as a fake blazecaller?).

So as far as revealed cards go, were still waiting on: Hunter/Priest/Rogue quests, the Shaman legendary, plus two neutral legendaries, with one more reveal today and the stream tomorrow.

IMO Reborn doesnt look that great so far, aside from some stuff like the warrior rush card. It seems like it will be awkward to fit a lot of them into decks.

I think Mage/Warrior/Hunter are the strongest classes so far - I think taunt warrior could be real, Mage/Hunter both got strong secrets and Mage got a bunch of secret synergy too. Rogue could be also good with all the death rattle cards they have had across the last two years, and mechathun rogue could be real.

Mass Hysteria is one way that it could trigger now, it has shown up in a couple trolden videos in the last couple months. I think the paladin card Duel! should also do it, since its another forced attack card in that vein.

No slow burn this time, expansion announcement is up:

https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23037181?linkId=100000006913487

Saviors of Uldum, releases August 6.

Announcement Trailer:

https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23014810?linkId=100000006816435

Classic set and HOF news: Mind Blast and Vanish are moving to the Hall of Fame set, new cards are being added to replace old HOF.

The packs are supposed to be 3 hours and 6 hours cumulative, for a pack each, but I think the first pack is dropping at 4 hours instead of 3. Considering last time it rewarded on 4 cumulative hours, maybe they messed up the first trigger.

In other wisdomball "fun":


That's Ragnaros, generated from Unexpected Results, hitting a 1 in 8 to kill me - Wisdomball transformed a 1/1 into Majordomo (who then immediately died to a boosted Arcane Explosion) immediately after I played my Druid death knight. I survived for 3 turns after that, even with a greater arcane missiles (into a full board).

I think that deck could have cleared too, the random cost passive does a lot of work.

Wing 5 having 4 more bosses is a pain even on normal. I died to the last boss, and I think I would have needed to draw the immune Mukla treasure on curve to win, he just put out so much.

Patch notes are out: https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22992997?linkId=100000006526492

The mobile reconnect parts sound fantastic if they work - being able to swap apps to reference stuff and not having to reload the game would make mobile deck-building a lot less painful.

Reckless Experimenter is going to get nerfed along with the mech update to get a restriction like Summoning Portal (cost cant be reduced below 1).

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/y2/Y2MTE5J7H8JD1558723107958.png

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/bsknod/upcoming_reckless_experimenter_card_change/

It will include the full disenchant value for the two weeks after the update.

I took Midrange Hunter from low 8 to 5 in a single winstreak over the last couple days. The list I ran (from Vicious Syndicate) isn't too expensive, with just 4 total epics (2x2) and one legendary, and there are cheaper builds out there without Rat Trap.

### Rat Trap Midrange Hunter
# Class: Hunter
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Dragon
#
# 2x (1) Shimmerfly
# 2x (1) Springpaw
# 2x (1) Timber Wolf
# 2x (1) Tracking
# 2x (2) Rat Trap
# 2x (2) Scavenging Hyena
# 2x (2) Vicious Scalehide
# 2x (3) Animal Companion
# 2x (3) Deadly Shot
# 2x (3) Kill Command
# 2x (3) Master's Call
# 2x (3) Unleash the Hounds
# 2x (4) Dire Frenzy
# 1x (5) Tundra Rhino
# 2x (6) Unleash the Beast
# 1x (10) Zul'jin
#
AAECAYoWArsFm4UDDqgCtQPeBJcIxQjbCYEK9uwCmPACyfgCoIUDpIgD+ZYDnp0DAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Other examples: https://hsreplay.net/decks/#playerClasses=HUNTER&archetypes=137

ShatteredElysium posted...

Actually I remember why I stopped playing now. It gave me some awful solo content quests which overwrote all my normal quests. So I was stuck with 3 special quests that needed clearing that would take some time to clear and I couldn't get any normal quests until I was done. And when I looked into it apparently when you cleared them it just gave you more anyway. So I just thought fuck this and stopped logging in as it waa basically forcing me to do hours of solo content before I could do anything else

I think they changed it at the start of this rotation to allow you to reroll those quests.

Cards Im interested in within that block: Necromechanic, Unexpected Results?, Extra Arms.

Crystology now being a 1-mana draw 2 is pretty nuts.

Pogo Hopper at 1 means you can consistently tutor it with witchwood Piper now, I guess. Violet Haze is strong in arena but probably still too bad for constructed.

Both warrior mechs will be more annoying when discovered.

Balance changes, you say?
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22990356?linkId=100000006326891

Raiding Party 3 -> 4 mana
Miscreant 5-> 4 health
Prep (3) -> (2) reduction
Elysiana 8 -> 9 mana

Arriving May 22.

They look about as you might expect, I think?

Cleared Heroic 1st wing as mage on my third/fourth try, I think? My passive treasures were just +1 mana and +2 cards, but I got a decent spread of minions and I had Yogg against Final boss Gallywix to put the game out of reach.

I think the taverns are really nice for fixing a deck, and overall the mode was better than I had expected.

I also pulled Blastmaster Boom from the 3 reward packs, though Im still short a bunch of epics that I need for bomb warrior.

Solo Adventure details are out:



Basic info: Opens on the 16th with one free wing and one paid wing, and adds another paid wing for the next three weeks after that.

It seems like they added a bunch of new features, but Im not sure how much they really help replayability for me.

metroid composite posted...

OK, I'm confused; I got a pack for watching yesterday, but I turned the stream on at 6pm today and have had it on till now (6am). No packs (other than the boomsday pack for logging in, but I know you don't need to watch for this one). How does this work again?

You get 1 Rise of Shadows pack for passing 4 cumulative hours of viewing time across all 4 days. Also, every hour, 1500 random people who are currently watching win a classic pack.

Camden posted...

I clicked too fast and didn't see the message, does anyone know why I got a Witchwood pack on the Asia server just now? It wasn't from watching the stream and I didn't get it on either of the other two regions.

Daily reward for HCT, I think.

Via patch notes: https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22938499/hearthstone-update-april-4-rise-of-shadows

HCT World Championships Its almost time for a new champion of Hearthstone esports to be crowned! Login from April 26 28 for daily rewards and play decks used by previous champions in the HCT Tavern Brawl. Be sure to also check out the HCT World Championship live at www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone

My early returns on Joybuzz/Alexstraza/Maly spell Hunter are positive so far, with the glaring exception of Secret Paladin. Ill try adding in Flare to try to fix it, I guess, but that might just be a hopeless matchup.

Nine Lives is also an activator in a way, as long as oblivitron isnt transformed before it dies. You dont really care if you hit the wrong mech the first time, as long as you hit any mech, since you can activate it again later *and* get it back in your hand. You should be able to run few enough deathrattles to guarantee your choice too.

In terms of consistency, I wonder if Pyro/etc (Blast Wave/Blizzard/Flamestrike/Pocket galaxy/Creation are the only others) are enough to warrant playing Sunreaver Warmage in a mage deck built around burn, since it has the option to go face and Kalecgos is now available for the extra boost. Losing Mana Wyrm on 1 hurts, but as mentioned, turn 1 plays in general seem to be dropping off a lot this rotation so who knows.

Decks Im interested in: mech hunter, token/treant Druid, any number of rogue decks, bomb warrior, small spell mage.

Sweeping Strikes (2 mana Warrior spell, give a minion also damages adjacent minions when attacking) looks strong.

There is a lot of spell damage on the neutrals this time, maybe it actually catches on for a class like hunter this time?

If theres anything Im really surprised by, its that paladin got one dragon synergy card, but really only got one other card that goes with it.

I think I mostly want League of EVIL legendaries. Hunter is really the only good class that has legends Id want, there arent too many that I find inspiring, I guess. I dont think theres a whole lot that I dislike though.

The reveal stream is over, and it looks like the card dump is up as well on the official site: https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/expansions-adventures/rise-of-shadows/cards/

azuarc posted...

When's the card dump, so we know the full set?

The final twitch stream is tomorrow at 10 AM PDT, any card dump should be shortly afterwards.