[PC Game] Hearthstone (Practically Beta)

[figmentPez]

My luckiest pack of cards yet:

Not only did I get an Epic, a Rare and a Golden common, but Thoughtsteal and Earth Elemental are both cards I didn't have at all.

I've got a custom deck built for each of the classes, but some are much stronger than others. I feel like my Warlock, Priest and Hunter decks are pretty powerful, while my Warrior and Paladin decks are merely passable. I'm not sure about my Shaman deck, especially with recent additions I haven't tested yet. My Mage deck is just plain weak, and my Rogue deck isn't working and I'm not entirely sure why.

 

[figmentPez]

Holy crap, Bloodlust is a beast of a card. In testing out my Shaman deck (which is still very weak early game), I just had a match against a Priest where I took him from 30 health down to zero in a single turn. A 10/10 Frostwolf Warlord certainly helped with that, but I don't think he was prepared for my field of totems to suddenly turn into a mass of damage punching him in the face. 5 minions suddenly doing +3 damage each is a lot of pain.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Bloodlust is a pretty fun card, but I don't always put it in my shaman decks. For it to be useful, you have to already be in a position of board dominance, usually making it overkill. The best use of bloodlust is when you have a few non-attacking units/totems that you can now give attack to, as @figmentPez discovered, but that's a pretty niche scenario, and your opponent will usually be able to keep your totems cleared out.

So yeah, good card, but situational, and doesn't help if you're behind.

 

[Rovewin]

Bloodlust is a pretty fun card, but I don't always put it in my shaman decks. For it to be useful, you have to already be in a position of board dominance, usually making it overkill. The best use of bloodlust is when you have a few non-attacking units/totems that you can now give attack to, as @figmentPez discovered, but that's a pretty niche scenario, and your opponent will usually be able to keep your totems cleared out.

So yeah, good card, but situational, and doesn't help if you're behind.

I still like it because as long as you are even it usually helps out. The thing is people like to save it for a finisher instead of using it when they are able. "oh if I play another totem and my opponent doesnt clear anything I can win next turn" instead of taking them down to ≥ 3 they get two or three minions cleared and then have no win condition when a rockbiter or lightning bolt would have won it for them. If you have at least three minions on the board it is usually good value. Helps get rid of the silenced totems clogging up your board, helps clear their board and synergizes well with your hero power. I agree it does not belong it every deck but any rushy or mid range deck I'd put one or two in.

 

[figmentPez]

Argh, I had a post all typed up and just closed the window or something... I don't even know what I did to not post it.

Anyway, in short, I've used Bloodlust to take down large opponents without sacrificing my own powerful minion. If I've been getting rushed down, often my opponents just ignore totems after a while, and I've got 1 or 2 that I can afford to sacrifice. It's not ideal, but it's better than losing a larger minion in many cases.

Also, I don't have any Lightning Storm, Earth Shock or Feral Spirits to put in my deck, so I've got to have something.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Argh, I had a post all typed up and just closed the window or something... I don't even know what I did to not post it.

Anyway, in short, I've used Bloodlust to take down large opponents without sacrificing my own powerful minion. If I've been getting rushed down, often my opponents just ignore totems after a while, and I've got 1 or 2 that I can afford to sacrifice. It's not ideal, but it's better than losing a larger minion in many cases.

Also, I don't have any Lightning Storm, Earth Shock or Feral Spirits to put in my deck, so I've got to have something.

Ahh, lacking those, there's no reason -not- to run it, then.

 

[Bowielee]

So, I've been having fun with low cost Divine Shield minions and the Blood Knight.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Funniest thing in any Twitch stream ever happened today.

Reynad27 decided to try and make an Asian account so he could go triple region Legend. China and Korea required SSNs so he was trying to find an asian country to use to get an account going. He tried 6 countries and they were all on EU. While looking at the map he finds Mongolia and goes -Wait, Mongolia is a thing? Like for real? It's been a while since I saw Mulan....-
If that wasn't funny enough, the stream chat told him that HAFU could translate for him. So he goes over to her channel as she's streaming and subscribes to her. Right before he asks for her help he stops and says -Is this racist?- I think I blacked out from laughter at this point.

 

[figmentPez]

Holy crap, I continue to be very lucky in opening card packs:

So, not only does Mindgames look like it's going to be a very fun card to play around with, and Doomguard is a card I've been using anyway, so I like having it in gold, but I did not have Defias Ringleader, Flame Imp, Stormforged Axe or Counterspell at all. These packs contain a very nice mixture of fun and very useful.

 

[PatrThom]

Does anyone ever actually put the Venture Bros. in their deck?

--Patrick

 

[figmentPez]

Does anyone ever actually put the Venture Bros. in their deck?

I've never seen one played, and I'd be hesitant myself. If you're down to top-decking, then it wouldn't make a difference, and that does make the minion all the more expendable. It's kind of like a worse version of overload, and I'm not sure I'd want to pay that price.

Oh, in other things I learned. I played my golden Arathi Weaponsmith today, and it's pretty cool that the weapon she grants you comes out silver with gold accents. This isn't my screenshot, but it looks like this:

I didn't expect that, and it's a nice touch.

 

[Rovewin]

Does anyone ever actually put the Venture Bros. in their deck?

--Patrick

I have seen it in a mage deck since that card works best in a spell heavy deck but the aldor peace keeper can ruin you if you try playing it in a typical minion populated deck.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Does anyone ever actually put the Venture Bros. in their deck?

--Patrick

Absolutely. They're great cards for their cost, and since they're such a big threat, their detrimental effect in minion cost will not be on the board for very long.

And if it -is- on the board for very long, well... that's a ton of hurt it's doing to your opponent. It also only effects minion cost, so it doesn't hamper use of spells at all.

Seriously. It's a great card, try it.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Flipside, nothing is better than casting Humility or Peacekeeper on a Venture Co. (for me that is)

 

[figmentPez]

@Ravenpoe You're making me think it has a place in my Shaman deck. Lots of buffs, with a goal of getting totems out, Venture could work.

 

[Bowielee]

Also, if you have a priest silence spell, it can remove the added mana cost effect. I've noticed that many players have a hard time with the concept of using negative spells or attacks against your own minions for effects. Such as attacking your own minion to produce their enrage effects.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Also, if you have a priest silence spell, it can remove the added mana cost effect. I've noticed that many players have a hard time with the concept of using negative spells or attacks against your own minions for effects. Such as attacking your own minion to produce their enrage effects.

Ironbeak Owl and Spell Shatterer (I think that's what it's called... the elf) also work. Though, don't take the owl. It's bad.

 

[Bowielee]

The only problem with them is that they will have the increased mana cost just to summon them.

 

[Ravenpoe]

The only problem with them is that they will have the increased mana cost just to summon them.

Yeah, but they're pretty cheap to begin with, and with any luck they will be unhumility-ing your ventureco at the same time

 

[Bowielee]

I do keep ironbeaks in my hunter deck, just for the silence effect and the addition of the beast effects.

 

[Ravenpoe]

I do keep ironbeaks in my hunter deck, just for the silence effect and the addition of the beast effects.

I run them in my murloc deck, just as a cheap way to get past taunt. So yeah, calling them bad may have been a bit harsh. Like most cards, they're just situational.

 

[Bowielee]

Watching some of the current high teir games, I'm wondering why the Big Game Hunter fell out of favor. I love keeping it in my deck to take out the big nasty cards.

 

[Krisken]

Huh, that was a weird encounter. Playing a Rogue and get paired up with a Warlock. Turn one he summons a 2/1 Murloc. My turn one I use my token to gain an extra energy and equip a dagger, then kill the Murloc. The other guy concedes. Wha?

Oh, I'm BrianPaasch #1936

 

[PatrThom]

Huh, that was a weird encounter. Playing a Rogue and get paired up with a Warlock. Turn one he summons a 2/1 Murloc. My turn one I use my token to gain an extra energy and equip a dagger, then kill the Murloc. The other guy concedes. Wha?

Oh, I'm BrianPaasch #1936

Cranky was playing a game yesterday where he was the Warlock and his opponent was the Rogue. The Rogue conceded the battle before he was even done choosing which cards to discard. I don't get it either.

--Patrick

 

[Krisken]

Maybe they just wanted to get in 3 plays for the 10 gold? I dunno. It was super weird, and I can't imagine why he bothered putting out the Murloc if all he wanted was a quick 10 gold.

 

[figmentPez]

Maybe they just wanted to get in 3 plays for the 10 gold? I dunno. It was super weird, and I can't imagine why he bothered putting out the Murloc if all he wanted was a quick 10 gold.

You need three wins for that basic 10 gold. My guess would be, he was running some sort of Murloc rush deck, and was only interested in a quick win or nothing at all. Your early dagger meant you could defuse more of his plan and prolong the fight, if not win.

 

[Krisken]

Ah, that's right. Hehe, the poor bastard, thought he'd get an easy win off me I think I've got the number of the Murloc's and pretty much know I can beat them (though I'll be at 10 health when I do).

That's the problem with cookie cutter decks, they may be strong early on, but as soon as people get some experience their weaknesses become obvious.

 

[SpecialKO]

Or his mom told him to take out the garbage.

 

[figmentPez]

I've never faced a full-on Murloc rush deck, but then, I play casual and not ranked.

 

[Rovewin]

I actually played 2 today and I only do casual also. I came so close to winning my first one. I was at 15 health and he already used a soulfire and a poweroverwhelming and he had an empty board and I stupidly played my yeti so I could win next turn instead of my earthenring. Since it was so close and he had barely any cards he would have tapped giving me the win and not allowing me to die to his leeroy poweroverwhelming along with his soulfire and blue gill. Gah so many plays I could kick myself over.

But yeah starting out you shouldn't run into too many full murloc decks because the warleaders are epics and they are key cards for any full-on murloc deck.

Anyway I finally got my second legendary Ysera! And on her third time out she has already gotten tinked. Ahh so proud.

 

[figmentPez]

Do you ever feel bad for your opponent? Because, sometimes I do. I felt that way twice in one match today. First when he set down his Flametongue totem in the wrong place, so that his Stoneclaw was left without any attack power. That let me take them both out without any damage to myself or my minions. That led to me getting much stronger board advantage, leading to my having seven minions on the board, including an Earth Elemental, a 10/10 Frostwolf Warlord, a Mana Tide totem and a 0/1 Frog. He made a damn good play with a Sea Giant that also got Ancestral Spirit, and a small amount of protection from a Frostwolf Grunt as a buffer. I could not have taken that beast down twice in one turn with my minions on the board, and could have taken serious damage doing so. However, I still had my second Hex card in my hand and waiting. I took out his defenses, and killed him without even having to play my Windspeaker (though, can you imagine a 10/10 Frostwold Warlord with Windfury?). I felt bad that my opponent made such a powerful play, and I was lucky enough to already have the card I needed. Though, on the other hand, having my Mana Tide totem out really increased my chances of having the cards necessary to do so.

 

[Vrii]

Things like Flametongue are affected by a bug where minons aren't in the position they look to be in on your board. Been in the game for a couple months now, and it's really frustrating to lose because your buffs don't hit where you think they will.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Do you ever feel bad for your opponent? Because, sometimes I do. I felt that way twice in one match today. First when he set down his Flametongue totem in the wrong place, so that his Stoneclaw was left without any attack power. That let me take them both out without any damage to myself or my minions. That led to me getting much stronger board advantage, leading to my having seven minions on the board, including an Earth Elemental, a 10/10 Frostwolf Warlord, a Mana Tide totem and a 0/1 Frog. He made a damn good play with a Sea Giant that also got Ancestral Spirit, and a small amount of protection from a Frostwolf Grunt as a buffer. I could not have taken that beast down twice in one turn with my minions on the board, and could have taken serious damage doing so. However, I still had my second Hex card in my hand and waiting. I took out his defenses, and killed him without even having to play my Windspeaker (though, can you imagine a 10/10 Frostwold Warlord with Windfury?). I felt bad that my opponent made such a powerful play, and I was lucky enough to already have the card I needed. Though, on the other hand, having my Mana Tide totem out really increased my chances of having the cards necessary to do so.

There's currently a bug in the game that causes minions to randomly switch places. He probably didn't place his flametongue incorrectly, it's more likely his minions weren't were he thought they were, so it looked correct on his screen, but then only one minion gets the buff.

I really hate that bug. A lot.

 

[Terrik]

I'm beginning to lose a little interest. I dunno--I'm hitting "legendary" walls---after a certain rank, you really DO start getting to the point where you either have legendaries, or you lose.

 

[Bowielee]

Legendaries have counters. Most of them can get shut up pretty easily with silence effects, making them more expensive than they're worth. I'd say that one exception could be Alextraza. The ability to deal 15 damage or heal 15 damage is extremely powerful, especially late game where your health pool is already going to be low. They can also be countered by Faceless manipulators pretty well. You can craft any card in the game with enough dust, so if you're not planning on every buying cards, the only way to grind out the dust is to keep playing.[DOUBLEPOST=1392517225,1392517060][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, I wonder if anyone knows this. If you Faceless Manipulator, and then use Youthful Brewmaster to return it to your hand, will it come back as a Faceless Manipulator, or the card that was copied?