Board 8 > Hearthstone Discussion Topic: You're Shivering, Are You Afraid?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's a little annoying but it can be countered by not going too wide or by buffing your deathrattle minions.

Just know what you're going up against. If it's Highlander then it's not too terrible to play around the one, single POM. (If they Shadow Visions it it's not... the worst)
---

VeryInsane posted...

The trick is to just play an aggro deck against Priest

Is playing Aggro really a valid solution though? Because that was the solution against Quest Rogue and people bitched up a storm about it to the point where it got nerfed.

Arena #8 (Cont)
{Hunter}

Game 9: Vs Rogue. I went Second. Pretty solid opener. Maybe best I've had with this deck so far with lots of options on turn 1, 2, 3, and 4. Good ability to seize tempo using the coin, which I did. This is particularly good against Rogue. He played a lot better than my previous opponents but did still walk into a few secrets. They're just really tough to deal with in Arena. I had a hard time finding the perfect time to switch from board control to face damage in this match. He played the mid game out really well, but I did manage to come out ahead. Close game. A good opponent really makes a difference. Win.

Game 10: Vs Hunter. I went First. However, I drew all three drops even after mulligan. Ohhhh this is not good. He had alleycat on 1. I did not draw a 2 drop by turn 2. Ohhhhhh this is realllyyyy not good. I was stuck making off tempo plays every turn, his deck quality seemed good, he did not make any misplays. The outcome here should be obvious. Loss.

Game 11: Vs Paladin. I went First. Had a solid opening curve. Good, I'm going to need all the help I can get. This has historically been the weakest match for my Hunter decks and at 8-2 I have to imagine I'm dealing with a high quality deck and/or a skilled player. If I'm lucky it's A but not B, he'll make some misplays or fail to curve out, and I can maybe win. If not, this run is probably over. Smuggler's Run into Grimestreet Outfitter. Yeah, I'm fucked. He coins out a 7/7 Cobalt Scalebane on TURN 4. The only reason I'm not dead immediately is because I have control of the board already and boom o clock ready for 5 damage out of hand. He highrolls a Volatile Elemental but I still feel like I'm in control of the board. I manage to rush him down after seeing less than half of his deck. I definitely did not want to see the other half. Another classic game where I was on the verge of losing every step of the way even though I felt like I was ahead. Win.

Game 12: Vs Paladin. I went First. Uh oh. Don't know if lightning is going to strike twice here. My opening curve was a lot weaker. Run straight into a Flappy Bird where he freezes my only minion on board so I can't stop it. Silvermoon Portal on it, highrolls PYROS. Gets Divine Shield for the option so I can't kill it the following turn. Sunwalker the following turn to protect it. This is not even a case of me not getting lucky. This is just my opponent being so insanely lucky there's absolutely nothing I could have done. Loss.

Final Result: 9-3

Just disgusting ending there. Overall a good run, though. One thing I'm liking about this current arena is the variety of opponents. This might just be because of the new expansion and maybe people will figure out the meta soon but I hope not. It's a lot better than just fighting Mages nonstop.

Prizes:
1 Pack
170 Gold
1 Card
---

so what I learned from those last two games is that I only win against Paladin if I get lucky AND my opponent DOESN'T get lucky. although to be fair my 11th opponent had a pretty solid amount of luck as well. just nowhere near the insanity I faced in game 12.
---

The difference is Quest Rogue was consistently able to pull out the combo. Big Priest is inconsistent and highrolling and relies heavily on Barnes.
---

some interesting stats



- holy crap I've played 70 games in just 9 days of tracking arena stats. also at 8 runs I was playing a run almost every single day so far!

- my average wins is 5.75 which is higher than I expected. most interestingly my average with Hunter is significantly higher at 7.67 wins. I knew Hunter was my best class but it's cool to see that my performance with the class is about 133% of my baseline performance.

- my wins with and without the coin smoothed out as I played more games and the difference between them is a lot more narrow now. I'd like to see if anyone else is experiencing this since that would be a really, really good thing. HS, arena especially, has always had a problem where the player going second is at a huge disadvantage. obviously I'm not taking my personal experience as proof that the problem has been fixed but it'd be neat to see what other people are experiencing. maybe I'm just particularly good at making up the disadvantage of going second? that's another possible explanation.

- at 1 pack (100G) and 116 Gold (116G) average, I'm always better off spending my gold in Arena than I would be if I spent it in the shop. I'm essentially spending 150G to make 216G each time. Adding the rewards I get from completing quests on top of this and I can pretty much play arena free forever, for the rest of my life probably if I wanted. or until they change the prices, rewards, or hearthstone goes bankrupt.
---

VeryInsane posted...

Big Priest relies a lot on big drops and if they Barnes on 4 you're in trouble but... it's not that much different from literally any other deck that runs Barnes/Y'Shaarj combo. They just try to highroll a ton, and if they do it looks fantastic and it will be etched in your memory... but at the same time, it isn't infallible.

Have you looked at the decklist Kibler runs? There's literally nothing that isn't a highroll. 2 statues, lich king, y'shaarj. That's basically the entire minion list, iirc. Maybe N'Zoth's in there, and if so, that's not great. But that's still a 4 in 5 chance.

And 4 in 6 for Shadow Essence because it could turn up Barnes.

Meanwhile, the deck runs double PoM, double Pint-Size/Horror, double Dragonfire Potion, double Greater Healing Potion just in case you do get a few hits in first...of course double Shadow Visions to turn up extra copies. You only win if it draws poorly and you are ungodly fast.
---

I mean, that's kinda why I'm saying it's a high roll deck. It relies so much on one card in 30.

Shadow Essence is in most cases going to be too late to be effective when the priest does next to nothing beforehand
---

So, I just went on a bad losing streak to take me down from mid 8 to mid 9, and rebounded with 2 wins vs agro druid and, a personal pride here, I somehow took down a jade druid when he got a DK Malfurion out turn 5. And I won because I topdecked Pyroblast out of 7 cards. As good a time to call it a night as any.
---

Arena #9
I Was Offered: Rogue/Hunter/Warlock
I Picked: Rogue


This is the only class that currently fits one of my quests right now and I've been slacking so I do have all three of my quest slots filled at this point. I decided to just run with it and pick up some extra gold while I'm at it.The other one, by the way, is to play 50 Paladin cards. I've already played 9 just off of random stuff like grimestreet outfitter and haven't been offered Paladin a single time in the duration that I've had this quest.

The Draft: I was offered Deathwing Dragonlord/Patches/Prince Keleseth as my very first pick. HA HA HA. Game seems to think that Patches is the best of the three options. Honestly... I'm willing to bet on the fact that I might draw a pirate or two and maybe pull him out of the deck. Not honestly sure how much a 1 damage ping will really do but you never know. Dragonlord is not ever really more than a generic big lategame minion and I'm sure I'll be offered plenty of those later. I was then offered Thalnos/Moroes/Finja later on in the draft. This is my first two legendary deck and they're all pretty much awful. I was offered a lot of dragons and not many pirates, but I did manage to pick up a few late in the draft. Ended up with a fairly flat curve that I needed to fix in the late half of the draft. I was only offered three TERRIBLE options a single time, so my overall quality shouldn't be too low. Just a standard tempo rogue with two garbage legendaries.

1st Game: Vs Priest. I went Second. I just realized I have Bloodmage Thalnos and only one spell that deals damage in my deck. It's Jade Shuriken. I have no other Jade cards. Amazingly, this actually came into play on turn 3 of this very game, right after I typed that. Neato. I get screwed over pretty damn hard by Cabal Shadow Priest and then Potion of Madness. Card quality is so much more important than card rarity and there's no better way to show it than this exchange. He gets Charged Devilsaur off of Free From Amber, hides it behind a Stonehil Defender and Sunwalker on the following turn. Well alright then. Amazingly, despite all of this, I literally manage to get INSANE value off of Necrotic Geist and set up lethal on board. Doesn't matter. Had Shadowreaper Anduin and killed me with exact lethal. Loss.

Your 0-0 arena experience in the new insanely high deck variance meta.

2nd Game: Vs Warlock. I went Second. Drew all taunts in my opening hand. Not even sure if stalling the opponent out will help me all that much since my lategame isn't particularly heavy or anything either. I actually draw bloodsail raider and get Patches value on turn 2. Hahah. Amazing. This was a weird as hell game where I feel like both of us were making really sub optimal plays every turn and then eventually I just sort of won. Not really misplays or anything but just, we both clearly had bad draws and not really great quality decks. Win.

3rd Game: vs Druid. I went First. I'm really starting to realize after just three draws how completely awful Bloodmage Thalnos is. Literally a 1/1 draw a card. Does almost nothing for me. Often it's just a free thing for my enemy to kill or, more likely, ignore. Southsea Squidface on turn 4 to pull my other garbage 1/1 Legendary onto the board. God I hate my luck. Looking at them side by side like this just makes me think of all the times I faced players with like Medivh and a Death Knight card. And I get this shit. He had no early game so I just pushed tempo until he made a misplay and I sealed the game. Win.

4th Game: Vs Shaman. I went Second. Drew Patches. Enough said. Used Envenom Weapon to control the early game board. Killed Drakkari Defender right on curve, which was a key play. Then I held onto it for the entire game which really forced him to not play anything big. He definitely over committed to this strategy. This is definitely a game where I feel good about and I just completely outplayed my opponent from turns 1 to 10. Win.
---

5th Game: vs Paladin. I went Second. Finally I got Aya off of Journey Below, making my Jade Shuriken not entirely worthless. I tried to employ a similar strategy as last game here, keeping Emperor Cobra on board while he failed to present any good targets for it to hit for several turns. Unfortunately I was a bit too greedy and got punished by a consecration play that was hard to come back from.. especially since I had no on-curve play for the following turn. I did have a lot of heavy cards in my hand going into the late game and surprisingly still a decent presence on the board. Literally drew Psych-o-Tron the exact turn I was planning to play Corpse Taker. NEVER LUCKY MARIA. Got Aldor'd two consecutive turns in a row. No big deal. Gets insanely lucky pretty much every remaining step of the way and manages to win despite dumping his garbage RNG hand, highrolling every outcome, while I'm holding consistent value cards that I don't have time to play out as a result. Loss.

6th Game: Vs Mage. I went First. Garbage opening hand. One of the rare games where even Shimmering Tempest and Primordial Glyph seemingly did not give him any of the answers he needed. Of course I was subjected to whiny emote span, as I assume this is the kind of player who is used to being handed every victory. I didn't even play any high quality cards. Win.

7th Game: Vs Priest. I went Second. Coin + Defias Ringleader on turn 1. I had another poison strategy this game with a bunch of small minions behind a stubborn gastropod taunt. Just cleaned up the board with my small guys each turn and prevented him from playing anything big into it. I didn't get insane value off of this play but it really slowed down his tempo all the way through to turn 5. Which is actually pretty significant, I guess. He misplayed a Necrotic Geist, dropping it AFTER he traded in a minion. Whoops. Top tier Thoughsteal RNG kept him alive for a few extra turns (he got the one card from my deck out of like 20 that would have saved him). RNGsus blesses his Free From Amber and he gets Obsidian Statue off of it as well. Gives him back 8 health and helps clear my board. I still ended up winning but man it was still a miserable experience. Definitely this is Hearthstone at its worst. Win.

8th Game: Vs Paladin. I went Second. Was offered no good cards. Mulligan into a slightly better starting hand. He had a perfect answer Rallying Blade on turn 3 to take complete control of the board and... accidentally went face with it? Whoops? He seemed to realize it was a mistake immediately and started emoting so I'm wondering what happened there. I paid him back by seizing control of the board and denying his weapon as much value as possible. Unfortunately he just rolled over me with far superior deck and card quality. In true Hearthstone fashion, what should have been a huge misplay ends up not mattering and he comes out way ahead. I do manage to fight for the board so I guess he did give me a chance. He dumps his hand, overcommits to the board, and I punish with a Primordial Drake. At this point my life total is very low but he has literally no cards. It's pure topdeck mode for him. He does get some insanely lucky draws but I think I outplayed him pretty hard here. Not that it was difficult to do considering the massive card advantage I had, but yeah, still feels nice to come out ahead thanks to some fine play. Got a pissed off emote from him at the end for my trouble. Apparently I angered him by forcing him to make multiple crucial misplays or something. Win.
---

9th Game: Vs Rogue. I went First. Bad opening hand. God damn such a bad opening hand. No way for me to get on the board or interact with it on turn 1, 2, or 3. And this point he's already got Demolisher up. Makes it impossible for me to even try to fight back. I do manage to get rid of it, and get onto the board by about turn 5. In a complete hail mary play I envenom weapon and take 8 to the face to get rid of Bittertide Hydra. It's my only chance of winning. Amazingly he has nothing else to play out and my gamble works. Win.

10th Game: Vs Druid. I went First. A fair opening hand with a few good options on turn 2. He played nothing so I bet on Stubborn Gastropod as I had in previous games, hoping it will deny him value. If not, I'm not far behind anyway since I was going first. I force him to Hero Power on turns 2 and 3, which gives me a huge tempo advantage and he has nothing on board at this point either. He tries to catch up with Keening Banshee but honestly it's not that undercosted. Not enough to make a difference here. I hold Envenom Weapon long enough to punch through his first big taunt, and kill him on turn 8. Long before he can get to insane Ultimate Infestation value. Win.

11th Game: Vs Priest. I went First. Ugh. Really not in the mood for another 5 hour long game. Bad opener. He's just a little too greedy with his Giant Wasp and I squash it with Stampeding Kodo. Heh heh. He has so many health buffs, so many high health minions that he keeps healing, it pisses me off about as much as Priest can possibly piss you off in this game. Wasted 20 minutes of my time on this garbage. Lose.

Final Result: 8-3

Prizes:
1 Pack
180 Gold
1 Golden Card
---

Okay, pretty sure the Priest I just beat either had a quest he wanted to complete or didn't understand that if he kept leaving minions with four health I could keep hitting them with a water elemental and DK Jaina hero power, then sacrifice another water elemental to keep C'Thun away from my face. There were a couple spots earlier in the game where I considered conceding, especially when I didn't have any way to deal with C'Thun when he was played (only Mirror Image and the priest's lack of other damage saved me there, as my health was as low as six before DK Jaina came out), but ended up winning on fatigue instead.
---

http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/3289-get-a-free-frozen-throne-pack-today-you-were

I'm sad I keep missing out on these bugs, even if this one is minor.
---

I've been playing slight variations of this deathrattle hunter for the past couple days. I dusted some wild legendaries and other golden cards to craft some standard legendaries I was missing.

Every few games or so I'll make a few swaps. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly works best.

I'm doing this from memory and just copied the format of a c/p deck list someone posted earlier in the topic, so it might have typos. Anyway, the list right now looks something like:

### Death
# Class: Hunter
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Mammoth
#
# 2x (1) Hunter's Mark
# 2x (1) Play Dead
# 2x (1) Tentacle of N'Zoth
# 1x (1) Raptor Hatchling
# 2x (2) Grievous Bite
# 2x (2) Loot Hoarder
# 2x (3) Devilsaur Egg
# 2x (3) Kill Command
# 2x (3) Stitched Tracker
# 2x (3) Terrorscale Stalker
# 1x (4) Arfus
# 2x (4) Exploding Bloatbat
# 1x (4) Infested Tauren
# 1x (4) Spiritsinger Umbra
# 1x (5) Abomination
# 1x (5) Corpse Widow
# 1x (5) Princess Huhuran
# 1x (6) Cairne Bloodhoof
# 1x (8) The Lich King
# 1x (10) N'Zoth, the Corruptor


Cards I've been swapping in and out and giving consideration to:

Volatile Elemental (can be really awesome with deathrattle triggers)
Deadly Shot (so far hunter's mark seems better)
Thalnos (cheap deathrattle draw is nice and sp does help with bites/KC, but the 1 attack compared to loot hoarder is a problem. I too often end up not wanting to play anything turns 1-3)
Highmane (I find that I like Cairne better for being stickier. Not enough beast synergy for that to really matter.)
Drop Infested Tauren for 2x Abomination (the damage output is just so much better with abom. I swapped in a tauren because I was trying to be a little quicker to the defense against aggro, but I'm not convinced it even helps much.)
Egg Napper (3 drop deathrattle that generates beasts. nuff said)

Other comments:

Umbra + Army of the Dead, when it happens, A) is hilarious, and B) usually wins the game instantly.

Still learning how to respond to various decks in the meta. I occasionally end up with a hand full of cards that I don't want to play yet. I'm not sure the best way to tweak it to improve this, or if it's just the type of deck where that's just how the bad draws are going to feel.

Tends to do very well against shaman and paladin.

Usually loses to aggro hunter.

Can beat quest priest (which I see a lot at rank 15) pretty consistently. Against other builds it pretty much comes down to my DK cards.

Gets shit on by pirate warrior.

Actually holds up well against Jade Druid as long as I can get value from triggers on egg/arfus, however I don't think the rank 15 Jade Druid players are quite up to snuff.

Pretty even with mage, although I'm pretty sure I've lost every game against Frost Lich Jaina so there's that.



Overall it's just really fun. I also am realizing I shouldn't complain about Potion of Madness because holy hell is Play Dead fucking powerful.
---

bng_mmmk posted...

I also am realizing I shouldn't complain about Potion of Madness because holy hell is Play Dead fucking powerful.

If you're going to complain about Potion of Madness, the absolute last card you should be running is Arfus.
---

After a few days last week of messing around on ladder with a combination of Jade Druid, Highlander Priest, and Token Shaman that got me stuck at rank 7 and turned me off from playing for a week, I finally sat down and slammed pirates to 5 last night in less than an hour.

Thank you based druid meta for the easiest stars of my life
---

Camden posted...

bng_mmmk posted...

I also am realizing I shouldn't complain about Potion of Madness because holy hell is Play Dead fucking powerful.

If you're going to complain about Potion of Madness, the absolute last card you should be running is Arfus.

I never play Arfus without an immediate trigger or two anyway, unless I'm facing aggro and have absolutely nothing else to play on turn 4. Playing him on curve is pretty bad against just about any deck. In my deck at least.
---

The whole PoM thing got blown out of proportion, too. I got burned by it several times in a night and remembered someone commenting about it, so I vented some and it turned into this whole thing.

I did initially say that I didn't want to play Arfus due to PoM but admittedly that was before I had Arfus or LK and once I realized I wanted to try play dead hunter I realized it was dumb to not include him.
---

Alleycat
Hunter's Mark
Crackling Razormaw
Freezing Trap
Ravasaur Runt
Trogg Beastrager x2
Venomstrike Trap
Cloaked Huntress
Eggnapper
Murloc Warleader
Shallow Gravedigger x2
Vicious Fledgling
Dispatch Kodo
Grim Necromancer x2
Houndmaster
Infested Tauren
Cobalt Scalebane
Explosive Shot
Menagerie Magician
Psych-o-Tron
Stampeding Kodo
Big-Time Racketeer
Book Wyrm
Corrupted Seer
Charged Devilsaur
Call of the Wild x2

New expansion offering bonus can be annoying, they offered me a combined twelve Venomstrike Traps and Play Deads here.

My first arena in about two weeks, so I'm not acclimated to the new expansion arena meta yet. I'll be happy to go .500.
---

Dropped cairne, infested tauren, and 1 stitched tracker for a more solid early game. Double raptor hatchling and double shaky zipgunner.

Double stitched was just too greedy and usually served only to get me farther behind on board. Leaving one in though because the potential value of a double Lich King or a double arfus or a double Umbra is just so high. Or just fetching the one.

Cairne is alright but he's really just a body and a n'zoth supporter. I feel a lot better drawing 4/3 raptors and playing 6/6 abominations early on. Plus the raptors and zipgunners are deathrattle as well.
---

Being offered a choice between Y'shaarj or DK Uther in arena is tough. Went with Uther since less board clears means a better chance at getting off the hero power win.
---

Taken
---

I don't normally use Stitched Tracker as a value generating card. it's more often used as a lategame extra draw or to fill out my curve in the worst case scenario. the main reason I added it to my deck is because the lack of draw/card generation has often been a huge weakness and this was a good way to patch the hole while still putting a body on the board.
---

Stats say 11 of my last 20 games have been Pirate Warrior. This new meta is exciting...

Edit: I guess I should be glad Druids are so good, only 2 of the last 20 have been them. They're all beyond my rank.
---

you should also absolutely be running Barnes if that is an option. he's so, soooo good. especially in deathrattle value decks. but really your goal should not be 'create extra copies of heavy minions that I won't have time to play because I get rushed down by aggro.' barnes ability of 'summon out cheap copies of deathrattle minions or instant effect minions to capitalize on their value early' is more what you need.

imagine pulling a 1/1 lich king on turn 4 and getting a death knight card early. plus a 1/1 taunt can be annoying to deal with since they have to soak something into it. stopping just one attack can really slow down your opponents deck if they haven't already gotten too far ahead, and wasting an attack on a 1/1 is super frustrating when you're fighting closely for the board.
---

Oh my god beating Jade Druids with Miracle Rogue is the most satisfying thing I've done in this game in a long time.
---

MariaTaylor posted...

you should also absolutely be running Barnes if that is an option. he's so, soooo good. especially in deathrattle value decks. but really your goal should not be 'create extra copies of heavy minions that I won't have time to play because I get rushed down by aggro.' barnes ability of 'summon out cheap copies of deathrattle minions or instant effect minions to capitalize on their value early' is more what you need.

imagine pulling a 1/1 lich king on turn 4 and getting a death knight card early. plus a 1/1 taunt can be annoying to deal with since they have to soak something into it. stopping just one attack can really slow down your opponents deck if they haven't already gotten too far ahead, and wasting an attack on a 1/1 is super frustrating when you're fighting closely for the board.

I don't pull a heavy minion if it's early in an aggro match. When I said it gets me behind on the board I mean by virtue of being a 3 mana 2/2.

I've tried Barnes but it was too inconsistent. When it pulls battlecry minions it's just a bad 4 drop. Although it has been a while and the deck has been changed more so it might be worth revisiting.
---

Early in a Priest draft. Pick my legendary:

Y'Shaarj (No big drops yet)
Benedictus (Meeeeeemes)
N'Zoth (No deathrattles yet)

Forced synergy picks were both Servant of Kalimos, and I have a couple more elementals.
---

Y'Shaarj is the safest pick.
---

Yshaarj easily.
---

Just now i'm playing priest versus quest mage.

It looks like the mage is going to win... but my lich king gets a death grip and I pull out... Antonidas.

Best moment ever.
---

im in a match now. My opening hand is Pain, Ooze, Tar Creeper, Crawler. my only thought it "please be a pirate deck"

... Passes on turn 1

me : Fuck.
---

Current priest list

### Highlander
# Class: Priest
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Mammoth
#
# 1x (1) Northshire Cleric
# 1x (1) Potion of Madness
# 1x (1) Power Word: Shield
# 1x (2) Acidic Swamp Ooze
# 1x (2) Doomsayer
# 1x (2) Golakka Crawler
# 1x (2) Radiant Elemental
# 1x (2) Shadow Visions
# 1x (2) Shadow Word: Pain
# 1x (3) Curious Glimmerroot
# 1x (3) Kabal Talonpriest
# 1x (3) Shadow Word: Death
# 1x (3) Stonehill Defender
# 1x (3) Tar Creeper
# 1x (4) Greater Healing Potion
# 1x (4) Kazakus
# 1x (4) Priest of the Feast
# 1x (4) Shadow Word: Horror
# 1x (5) Darkshire Alchemist
# 1x (5) Elise the Trailblazer
# 1x (5) Holy Nova
# 1x (5) Kabal Songstealer
# 1x (5) Lyra the Sunshard
# 1x (5) Raza the Chained
# 1x (6) Dragonfire Potion
# 1x (6) Skulking Geist
# 1x (8) Free From Amber
# 1x (8) Shadowreaper Anduin
# 1x (8) The Lich King
# 1x (9) Obsidian Statue


On a 10 game win streak. Might hit rank 5 despite not really playing.
---

Arena #10
I was Offered: Mage/Druid/Hunter
I Picked: Druid


The Draft: Got a first pick Legendary again and had to make a tough choice between Curator and Fandral. Curator is an almost guaranteed draw engine, and a decent sized taunt despite being a lategame card. Fandral, if I get any "Choose" type cards, will massively increase in value. Plus he's a midgame card which will be much better for my overall curve. Since it is early in the draft I decide to just stick with Curator... the safer pick. Overall I didn't get the curve I wanted, due to getting some bad options late in the draft, but I did pick up a few beasts along the way. Deck quality ended up being pretty average overall. The curve isn't bad, it's just not as low as I wanted. No Ultimate Infestation or any crazy cards like that, either.

Game 1: Vs Warrior. I went Second. I have too many heavy cards thanks to only being offered heavy cards for like the last 6 picks in my draft. Drew most of them here, too, which is frustrating. I did have a 3 drop, so I just coined it out. Best way to seize tempo. Especially since he did not make a play on turn 2. I did have a 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 curve at least! And with my opponent starting slow this ended up being way more important. He made some pretty poor plays and seemed to have picked up some murloc synergy picks which leads me to believe this was either a very new or just very bad arena player. Win.

Game 2: Vs Warlock. I went First. Bad opening hand. My earliest play was once again on turn 3. My opponent did play Weasel Tunneler on Turn 1 though so uh.... yeah. No idea. I'm forced to make some pretty terrible plays just for the sake of keeping up tempo. Not good. I do draw into the Weasel Tunneler early on too so I guess he did mess with my ability to curve out. Amazing. He simply played high quality cards every single turn from turn 3 to turn 9, and then killed me. The end. Loss.

Game 3: Vs Rogue. I went Second. Had a nice collection of 2 and 3 drops so I decided to just coin stuff out early on. Got punished by Backstab. Guess I should have played around every single card in the standard pool right now. I built a small wall of taunts and put Addled Grizzly behind it to try and gain advantage in the midgame. This strategy worked just fine and my board grew out of control pretty damn fast. Got punished by Vanish. Guess I should have played around literally every single card in the standard pool right now. I seemingly forgot that in arena my opponent is always holding whichever answer they need on any given turn, no matter how small the odds. I get back to work rebuilding my board and eventually regain control of the game. Win.

Game 4: Vs Mage. I went Second. Weak opening curve but my hand is not literally empty so that's something. I do mulligan into Addled Grizzly, so coining that out is definitely my turn 2 play. I drop Zoobot right behind it for some VALUE. He actually ignores the Grizzly and goes face, a move I'm sure he sorely regrets when I use Deathspeaker to Immune it and keep it alive while trading. Yikes. Win.

I don't have time for any more games this morning. That last one was actually probably pushing it. Looking forward to continuing this run tonight. It's always fun when I have weird average quality decks without any kind of great curve or anything but I'm forced to try and make them work and see how far I can get.
---

MariaTaylor posted...

I seemingly forgot that in arena my opponent is always holding whichever answer they need on any given turn, no matter how small the odds.

Never go full Ulti
---

by the way, did anyone see the hearthstone raid thing going on at gamescom?

I happened to be up way too late when thijs made the announcement on his stream and showed it off for a while.

It's basically a special local area tavern brawl where you fight the lich king, and he had like a million health. And everybody there just keeps replaying it and doing as much damage as possible before they die.

Neat in concept, although in practice it just seemed kinda bland.
---

skullbone posted...

Oh my god beating Jade Druids with Miracle Rogue is the most satisfying thing I've done in this game in a long time.

What made you jump off of Paladin?

bng_mmmk posted...

by the way, did anyone see the hearthstone raid thing going on at gamescom?

I happened to be up way too late when thijs made the announcement on his stream and showed it off for a while.

It's basically a special local area tavern brawl where you fight the lich king, and he had like a million health. And everybody there just keeps replaying it and doing as much damage as possible before they die.

Neat in concept, although in practice it just seemed kinda bland.

this needed to be one of those things where like Toast or Kripp figures out some obscure way to actually deal a million damage to the boss within the constraints of the Tavern Brawl. would've been a lot more exciting.

but yeah I hear they were just testing this out and supposedly we'll be getting a normal TB in the future that functions this way.
---

UltiXX posted...

skullbone posted...

Oh my god beating Jade Druids with Miracle Rogue is the most satisfying thing I've done in this game in a long time.

What made you jump off of Paladin?

Well I mainly played Paladin in Un'Goro but I actually haven't touched it since the new expansion. I mean I haven't been playing that much in general but whenever I do it's usually Miracle Rogue.

Rogue has always been my favorite class but I never bothered making a deck until the end of Un'Goro
---

I don't know what I expected when I heard "Hearthstone Animated Short", but this was not it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPguoeYTvMI
---

Arena #10(cont)
{Druid}

Some lunchtime play!

Game 5: Vs Rogue. I went First. Bad bad bad opener. Drew from the top half of my deck even after mulligan. No turn 1, 2, or 3 play. Yikes. My 4 drop was the incredibly slow Twilight Summoner. A very low tempo game overall where I never got much value out of my cards either. Somehow ended up with card advantage and board advantage in the late game. My opponent gets the most bullshit MC Tech of all time, stealing my Bog Creeper with like a 1/6 chance when I had lethal on board. Luckily I still had enough power from hand to push through and finish him off. Win.

Game 6: Vs Shaman. I went First. I've learned to just keep 3 drops in my mulligan phase because my curve is literally so bad that I often won't even get a 2 drop on 2. I tried to play low tempo, high value but really my opponent shut me down so hard I couldn't even play the one 3 drop I actually had (it would just get eaten by his two drop LOL). Even once I finally get on board I just get wrecked by Devolve anyway. Bonemare on 7 is answered by Hex on 7. Jade Lightning. Maelstrom Portal. I'm literally facing a constructed level control shaman with removal spells and answers every single turn. Loss.

Game 7: Vs Mage. I went First. Damn it Blizzard. Not like this. Actually solid opener for once, at least. He started pinging my face pretty early on so I had a feeling he was either holding Pyroblast or hoping to draw into it. Got Soggoth the Slitherer from Stonehill Defender and used that to protect my face while gaining 1 armor each turn to keep me above 10 health. And insanely close game that came down to a face race at the end. Him with a bunch of small minions on board, me with a few big ones hidden behind one big taunt. I take great care to keep myself out of Pyroblast range even while trading, and eventually come out ahead. Even once he starts pinging me again. And, indeed, he had it. He pyroblasts and then hits concede. Great hand reading on my part, there. Win.
---

JonThePenguin posted...

I don't know what I expected when I heard "Hearthstone Animated Short", but this was not it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPguoeYTvMI

Hearthstone, produced by Disney, coming to a theater near you.
---

I'd watch it.
---

Game 8: Vs Paladin. I went First. Another solid opener, at least. Facing Paladin is a bit of a nightmare though. He coins Sword of Justice on 2, so I know I'm in for a battle against some oversized minions. Even worse than expected... he drops Flappy Bird on the next turn. I have barely just enough presence on board to answer a 4/4, thankfully. He cleans up my board with Consecration on the following turn. I'm drawing exclusively from the bottom half of my deck which is probably the only thing keeping me in this game. It also means I have potential to draw into some value mid/late game. He actually gets very over zealous about using his Truesilver Champion even after I'm clearly trying to shred through his life total, and puts himself within range of a Bite lethal (combined with the minions he left on board). Surprise victory from out of nowhere. Win!

Game 9: Vs Mage. I went Second. Shaky opener, might not be too bad. Can I please just not lose to mage to end my run. That is really the last thing I want. He starts off with Mana Wyrm, so I already know I am not going to get my wish. Lol fuck these constructed level decks in arena lately. I at least manage to out value him with some clever plays and don't fall too far behind. Played so much better in the midgame. Doesn't matter. He had Lich King. Followed by Faceless Shambler the following turn for a second 8/8 taunt. Seriously what is up with these crazy decks that have unbeatable plays followed by plays that are equally insane just in case you had a sliver of a chance, to make sure that there is really nothing you can do? This fucker literally had Frost Lich Jaina in his deck as well. I don't even know what to say. The only reason I got to see it was because he used that one death knight card to pull four ADDITIONAL MINIONS onto his board, and just happened to burn it. I have taunts to protect myself and he understandably has spiked hogrider as well. Wouldn't want to miss any of the 'bullshit arena answers' checkboxes for this guy. HE WAS SOMEHOW AT 6-2 and walked right into my mediocre deck. Loss.

The level of deck variance in arena right now is just absolutely insane. Your opponent at 6-2 is just as much of a crapshoot as your opponent at 0-0. Just what is even going on in this format lately.

Final Result: 6-3

1 Pack, 85 Gold, 1 Common Card

Overall this was a really good example of the severe lack of two drops in arena right now. It's something I've noticed over several of the last few runs but this one especially suffered as a result. My deck quality was fine but my curve was overall very heavy and I ended up struggling in so many of my matches as a result. Even in the games I won, I never truly felt like I was ahead until it got close to the finish line. And even then, just one answer from my opponent would have shut me down completely.

This may actually be a good explanation for why the difference between first and second is not as severe as it used to be. Since there's not as many 2 drops, there's probably lots of decks that can't really capitalize on the the extra tempo of going first (because they have nothing to play on 1 or 2 often), while many players going second can coin out a 3 drop in order to close the gap and/or pull ahead. I know I often found myself doing this when I went second not just in this run but the previous ones as well. There were even times where I felt myself wishing that I was going second rather than first.
---

Yeah I'm done with arena until next set. Arena already blew, and then they did this synergy trash on top of refusing to fix any actual problems. I think the deck I just drafted legitimately has an average below 60 because of the pool being so awful.

"Skill based game" though.

I swapped barnes back in for the stitched tracker. So far I've played him three times and gotten umbra (useless), the 4/3 from raptor hatchling (useless), and once when I drew him late and got loot Hoarder (too late to matter).

Like I can look at my list and realize that a lot of minions are good to get him with. But with this sample plus my previous experience I'm like 0 for 6 on Barnes helping so it's difficult to leave him in.
---

the overall deck power levels being lower is fine, it's the variance that is the problem. mine have all been in the 63-68 range so far. 63 is pretty low while 67-68 seems to be about average. 60 seems really, really low for this meta. like near the bottom of what you can conceivably get.

here's the thing though... I haven't even drafted a single really good high quality deck yet. meaning for as much as 67-68 seems better than 60, there's stuff that is SIGNIFICANTLY better than that. I've run into people who are orders of magnitude better than even the best deck I've drafted so far. think about that. I've heard that people have been drafting decks as high as 80 right now. a 63 vs an 80. that's not even remotely a fair game. hell, even with my average 67-68 decks. I could draw my best possible opener and he could draw his worst and I'd still lose turn 8.

I agree the synergy pools are a huge problem and need to be removed IMMEDIATELY

there are some good things about the current arena right now

1. huge class variety. you see way more differences in the opponents you face at every single level of arena right now. mage is still my highest number of opponents faced by a pretty big margin though and I did still have a very low win rate against them, which is frustrating as hell. but I'm actually fighting plenty of non-mage opponents as compared to some of my experiences with previous arena metas.

2. for whatever reason, and this might just be me or the small sample size of "only" 90 games I've played so far, the gap between going first and going second is much more narrow. like 60% vs 70% instead of 40% vs 70%. you can actually expect to have a shot at games where you go second. arena is no longer a crapshoot where you just hope that you are randomly chosen to go first to even have a chance of winning.
---

Took a C'thun Warrior to fatigue with my Miracle Rogue. He had 8 health and if I drew my evis I would have won but I didn't and he drew the C'thun armor guy to go up to 18.

I also had a full board lose to brawl but nobody else seems to care about how stupid that card is. Every time I see someone mention removing ice block or innervate and not brawl I die a little inside. Control warriors are seriously built around that card the same way that mage is built around ice block but it's "balanced" because the warrior doesn't get to pick who lives. It's stupid.

Anyway, on my last turn I used evis on my own Arfus and got death coil. With the copied rogue passive I was able to deal 10 damage with the remaining 4 mana but it wasn't enough. It was kinda surprising that my Miracle Rogue was even able to last as long as it did (and deal enough damage to get through 30 points of armor) but it wasn't meant to be.

Almost winning a game you're supposed to lose is more crushing than if it weren't close at all.
---

skullbone posted...

Almost winning a game you're supposed to lose is more crushing than if it weren't close at all.

Yeah...this is true across all competitive games.
---