Lurker > ESY16

"Time for the 7th Period stretch!"

NHL PA and scoreboard messages during the playoffs have been on point.

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skullbone posted...

Dead on 8 gold

Can we get a new fucking battlegrounds meta yet

Yes please.

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Yeah, the logo is great. The secondary logo that includes the Space Needle in it is dope.

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Chrono

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Assuming the leaks are accurate:

We need more info on Tess (does she only get as many minions as the current tavern should have and is it only minions of her tavern tier or lower), but overall she seems like she could be pretty strong. Potentially very good with Murlocs of course.

Mukla seems like a bit of an opposite Edwin. You get strong in the early game due to the buffs and then they fall off later, whereas Edwin doesn't really get to use them in the early game but can then get +4 or +5 each turn later. Interesting design choice to have a power that impacts the entire lobby. Timely buffs on a rat or bronze warden would be big, but overall seems average at best.

Brann is another one that seems like a decent option for murloc forcing. Plenty of murloc battlecries (2 on tier 1, 2 more on tier 3), and if something like Demons are banned then your odds of landing murlocs are pretty good. Also good with Kaly of course, but getting that far in the game with not much of a hero power is the issue.

Most notably these are all heroes with 1 gold hero powers. We have already started to see more and more heroes take the 'Rafaam curve' and stay on 1 longer. Now there are even more options that could have an argument for doing the same thing. We may get to the point where, in some lobbies, more people are staying on 1 until around 6 gold than not.

Aranna buff was needed and right in line with what popular sentiment was asking for. I played her for the first time on my EU smurf and actually had good luck with a juggler build. This opens up quite a few possibilities for her and she should get notably stronger, though not S tier.

Hooktusk gets hammered hard here. That nerf is brutal (and not one I saw discussed much) and makes her significantly weaker. She can still get some econ benefits, but without easy triples she will fall down the rankings pretty hard.

Pirates going into the ban pool was expected and couldn't come too soon.

Amalgadon is interesting. I'm not a fan of Blizzard continuing to add more and more randomness to the game (which can diminish the role skill plays), but I am a fan of trying to get menagerie back into play. The problem is that menagerie wouldn't be good until Lightfang is reverted back to +2/+2 or there is a fundamental shift in the meta back to slower play. The unit itself can be good with different builds, though I assume it will most likely be picked as a 'well I missed the thing I was aiming for but this could high roll for me' unit. Could me a massive power boost - RIP to the person who hits someone the turn after they high roll one.

Goldrinn going to 6 feels like a poor and frankly lazy choice. First, along with Amalgadon, it dilutes the pool of tier 6 minions even further. It also leaves the game with 1 beast at tier 5 and 4 at tier 6 which doesn't make a lot of sense. Sure, it was a problem that Goldrinn beasts was objectively better than Mama Bear beasts, but then change Mama Bear and put her at 5 to compensate. Also, the problem with beast builds at the moment isn't Goldrinn it's Macaw, but apparently Blizzard doesn't want to admit a mistake with that card just yet. The obvious fix to beasts wasn't moving Goldrinn to 6, it was making Macaw a neutral so it didn't get any Goldrinn buffs. That way you can still build the comp but it isn't as oppressive.

Overall the patch seems like a net positive (if the leak is complete and accurate), but still doesn't address the biggest issues with the current meta. Cannon should be deleted, Macaw should be a neutral, there are far too many weak heroes which causes a big part of the game to be decided on the hero select screen instead of actually in the game (and causing higher MMR lobbies to feature the same heroes constantly), taking 15+ damage is far, far too common in the mid-game, mechs and menagerie are still in a sub-optimal place, etc. Let's hope bigger things are in store for the future.

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Lolo_Guru posted...

get slay the spire

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The whole event is a disaster invite wise. Only inviting 1 woman initially despite many women BG streamers being available and objectively better choices. Finally inviting a 2nd only after a ton of social media heat. Inviting players who barely play BGs and/or aren't all that great compared to others who should have been invited. Blacklisting Savjz, which is causing the entire Twitch chat of the main channel to be filled with either Hong Kong stuff or people posting Savjz's tweet.

BGs is a better game than the company that developed it.

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shane15 posted...

I'd have preferred a price reveal as opposed to the system reveal.

They couldn't possibly reveal price right now. These consoles, especially the top end models, are going to be incredibly expensive. A huge price during the global pandemic and economic downturn is going to cause some sticker shock, and it is critical to build up hype as much as possible on the front end in order to justify the price. They want people talking about games, tech, design, rumors, and everything else first. The price is going to be the bad news - it needs to be prefaced with as much good news as possible first. Plus, Sony and MS need to ensure that they are at least close to each other on price.

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ESCharts tweeted that the show had a peak of 7+ million viewers. If nothing else this put the final nail in the coffin of conferences. We will never have an E3 or E3 like event again.

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Some of those new pirate minions seem awfully strong. Definitely glad to see a major meta shakeup, and rotating minions has been badly needed for months. Holy Mackerel being gone is excellent. New heroes are a lot to digest. Waiting for Eudora into Golden Zerus into Golden Kaly memes if that's possible.

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This is a true example of high ELO gameplay: https://clips.twitch.tv/AmazonianAnnoyingCrowFreakinStinkin

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azuarc posted...

*looks at rating, which has been sitting at around 6.5k for months*

Golly, I sure wonder why I'm not steadily climbing then.

Again, those aren't my words, but the words of probably the best auto-chess player on the planet. I'm just agreeing with him. At 6.5K you could beat a 12K player or lose to a 4.5K player just based on luck. There's a reason a game like TFT has tournaments and BGs doesn't. I'm not saying every 6.5K player or 9K player always makes the right decision. What I'm saying is that once you start climbing the role that luck plays in winning increases and the role that decision making plays decreases. Bebe says that you can be doing the right thing but on an unlucky patch, and that can reasonably last for maybe 100 games before things even out.

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Ok, now that I've played over 80 hours (plus some on an EU smurf) and grinded to around 9K, I feel I have enough information to review BGs. It's like a slot machine, except you can pay an extra $20 to have more luck than other people and every once in a while it asks you to add 2 single digit numbers together to make sure you aren't a total idiot. It's a good introduction to the genre, but in the same way that finger painting is a good introduction to art. If they updated the game with any kind of regularity it could have an interesting dynamic, but apparently that isn't going to happen, so you'll know everything you need to know about the game in about 20 hours. 80% luck, 10% not being a total moron, 10% skill.

It's fun, but I agree with bebe, once you hit 6.5K or so you know everything there is to know about the game. The only difference in rank after that is how much time people spend playing the game. I hope Blizzard actually gets aggressive with updates soon to switch it up. Rotate tribals, balance heroes, change turn 1 tokens, etc. The potential is there to make the game better.

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Nearly 20/20 Bronze Warden, Poison Mackeral, 16/16 Razorgore, Brann, and a couple other useful units is an 8th place comp. Bolvar, Poison Mackeral, 30/30 Golden Selfless, 10/40 Battlemaster, Ghastcoiler, Sneeds (after having Lightfang for quite a while) isn't top 4. This high-roll, take 20 damage on the 9 gold turn meta is trash. I see why bebe quit for TFT. TFT changes the meta every 2 weeks. The last meta-changing patch for Battlegrounds was in March. Imagine asking people for $20 for a few months worth of perks and then nearly ignoring the game mode.

On another note, going to have 2 Legends walk me through a couple Arena runs. Any fun builds to look out for?

Ok sure. Just finished another game. On the 9 gold turn this guy has Lightfang AND buffed Foe Reaper. I take 16 damage. 3 turns later I hit the same FUCKING guy and die. How is this the only auto-battler that can't seem to figure out match-up RNG?

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FFDragon posted...

Rafaam is like top three!

You just have to get used to his unique tavern-up order.

I'm following the suggestions/order of probably the best Auto-Chess player on the planet (bebe)! I'm just crazy unlucky with Rafaam. He's overall top tier, but I'd probably take him 5th or 6th if I was offered every hero.

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Just got 7th place with Rafaam in a game in which I won 1 fight total. 1 triple the entire game. That hero is actual garbage.

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I am the unluckiest Rafaam gamer in existence. I have 14 games as him and only 8 wins. On a pretty heavy loss streak at the moment. Hoping future games hold more success. Oh, and after I get 2 7th places, each game getting hit by 20ish damage mid-game by highrollers hitting their power spike, I decide to watch a friend play and give him tips. He buys a Zerus both games early on. First game, first turn Zerus turns into coiler. 2nd game 1st turn it hits Lightfang. I want his luck.

Ok played one last game after I posted this and got 1st with a Baron Mech Deathrattle comp. Nozdormu >> Rafaam change my mind.

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So which team getting 1st overall and drafting Lafrenire would be the biggest meme? Pittsburgh? Edmonton? Phoenix for all the rigged comments?

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After 60 hours I hit over 7700 with what I think my be my first ever menagerie 1st place. The crazy thing was I had 2 megasaurs, 2 battlemasters, a bagurgle, and another malganis in my hand just in case I had to pivot or change it up at some point.

I've been playing Pyramad by staying on level 1 until 6 gold, keeping just the starting minion on board if it's good and I think I can win, and then immediately leveling to 3 and using hero power on 7 gold to catch up on levels if I can get away with it. Learned it from watching bebe play and so far it's been working out.



Also, I figured I'd start playing on EU every once in a while to test out different heroes and strategies and so far I think I'm gaining a couple useful tips from it.

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ESY16 posted...

New minion seems like it could be a nice Pyramad starter since it can scale attack in the early game.

Had the chance to test this theory just now and it is quite nice. My early game wasn't actually great, but the thing scaled quite well in the mid-game and stayed on my board. Got first place, but that was more a function of getting 2 good size deflect-o-bots and getting a 6/228 golden battlemaster for the very last fight. Think the saurolisk ended up at 17/48 (non golden). Felt like a quick game.

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Just had a normal Alex game where I finished with divine shield, poison murlocs with double mackerel. Beat a Rafaam that had the same thing but fewer divine shield poison murlocs and only 1 mackerel. Pathetic.

Was actually happy since I was a hybrid divine shield/dragon comp but after I got a Brann I started collecting pieces each turn for a transition because I saw Rafaam building murlocs in the late mid-game. Got really lucky with finding 3 megasaurs.

New heroes seem interesting. None should be top tier (which is good because introducing top tier heroes as battle pass exclusive for 2 weeks would be awful), but they offer different play styles which could be nice. New minion seems like it could be a nice Pyramad starter since it can scale attack in the early game.

Also, if tomorrow is anything like the introduction of dragons, if you care about MMR then it's the perfect day to climb because people will be dead-forcing the new heroes before they have a handle on how to play them.

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1, with 3 49s. Might get another 50 today but not holding my breath (of the wild).

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Forceful_Dragon posted...

Buy Alleycat on 3
Freeze Alleycat on 4
Buy 2nd Alleycat, Sell a Token, Buy Hyena on 5

BUT WAIT IT FREAKING DISCONNECTS ME CONSTANTLY SO ALL IT DID WAS SELL THE TOKEN AND BUY NOTHING AND FLOAT 3 GOLD COMPLETELY RUINING MY 5 GOLD PLAY.

:(

My game doesn't DC, but it freezes constantly and has costed me games. I've reinstalled, repaired, and done everything else I can find on forums to no avail.

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Got 7000+ on Battlegrounds after getting a Nadina +dragons +poison mackerel board for 1st place. Not sure I can climb much more than this as I feel I still make a ton of mistakes, but hitting 7K (top 1%) has been my goal so I'm pleased with myself.

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metroid composite posted...

I think beasts as a comp got a little bit worse since dragons came out.

Used to be that if you had no obvious direction on tier 3 (no floating watcher/cobalt) and tiered up to 5, there were only two comps that got a power spike on 5/6 (beasts and murlocs) and beast transitions are way, way easier than murloc transitions. (Also the other two tribes, demons and mechs, didn't have much on 5 at the time).

Now there's also dragons which get a big power spike on 5/6, and dragons are better than beasts overall, and also fairly easy to transition to. (And also you might like have a dragon comp from tier 2-4, whereas beast comps are way rarer).

Agreed. It seems like Beasts only have 1 go mode card for an endgame build and it's a tier 6 (Mama Bear) - whereas Divine Shield and Demon (either stat or juggler) comps start fleshing out at 3/4 with Menagerie and Murlocs at 5. Dragons, as you say, can be strong at any point of the game, have a good tier 5, and 2 different tier 6 cards that charge an endgame build. Also, it feels to me (maybe an uniformed ~6800 opinion) that hyrda doesn't have quite as much value lately until it gets huge. Too many stats or divine shields to deal with. It's good, but a few months ago it was an almost instant buy if you found it early enough.

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azuarc posted...

That was a commentary on how the battle pass has completely killed my interest to play the format. I actually played two bands last night for the first time in forever. Came 1st and 2nd against what felt like relatively easy opposition, oddly enough. (This is at 6500 rating.)

True. Battle Pass felt like a scummy decision for sure.

LiquidOshawott posted...

I think the one time I played him post nerf I went second and with a beast comp of all things (thats probably the worst comp to be with Millhouse but I kept getting Goldrinns so)

I got my first top 1 with Beasts (out of 22ish wins) a couple days ago. Couldn't seem to put that comp fully together or would max out at top 4.


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azuarc posted...

People still play battlegrounds?

I only play Battlegrounds >_>

metroid composite posted...

Just took a look at where Millhouse landed post-nerf.

Looks like solidly tier 2 now (slightly above the winrate of Sir Finley, slightly below the winrate of Yogg).

Down to tier 3 now it seems. 2 cost rolling in the endgame used to be mitigated by the fact you could hit tier 5/6 before everyone. Now that Millhouse can't do that his endgame is rough.

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Yeah, does anyone have a good article or synopsis of why employees hate Naughty Dog now? Been out of the loop on that I guess.

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Leafeon13N posted...

Mario vs Crono 2.

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In

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Good day of Slay the Spire. Had a 17:28 run which is my new best, and then I was able to beat the 1st Ascension with The Watcher. Brilliance is crazy strong with a Mantra deck.

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I've never done a Heart run. Any tips?

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Finally got a victory with Watcher using a hybrid Divinity/Pressure Points deck. Definitely a learning curve for me with the character, but I'm loving the new content. I try to be 1st on my friends list for fastest victories, but speed-running with Watcher is going to take me quite a while to get down correctly.

I like quite a few of the balance changes included with the update as well.

banananor posted...

maybe a stupid place to ask, but if you had to pick between this game and darkest dungeon, which do you prefer?

I much prefer Slay the Spire, but I don't have a ton of experience with DD. Just feels like less wasted when a run isn't going your way.

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