[PC Game] Hearthstone (Practically Beta)
- Thread starter Ravenpoe
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figmentPez
Staff member
I think I like close-fought games where both players tend towards lots of cards in hand. Those are generally the most satisfying, even if I lose. Knowing that each of us had options, and I chose the best options feels more satisfying than stomping my opponent, or losing because it feels like he simply has better cards that I have no answer two.
Still, sometimes the long, drawn-out, battle of top-decking (or close-to) can be interesting. I'd whittled a Warlock down under 10 health, when he pulled a move that wiped both of our boards. It was pretty slick, actually. This left both of us with two cards a piece, and I thought I was in big trouble, despite having over 20 health myself, because he still could outdraw me for a couple turns. He very nearly did me in, because he kept managing to heal himself with Life Drain and other tricks, while clearing my board every turn. At one point I thought I had him, because he was down to 4 health, and I had a 3 damage lighting card in my hand, but I didn't get a spell-power totem, and he healed up off of what I did summon.
I managed to pull out a win, though, because he got greedy. Despite having three minions on the field, one of them a Doomguard at full health, he still got greedy enough to card draw himself down to 5 health. I pulled out a Fire Elemental, and was very glad I'd held on to my lightning spell, instead of using it to mitigate the incoming damage. I've never used my Fire Elemental's battlecry on a hero before, but 3 + 3 = 1 dead Warlock.
Still, sometimes the long, drawn-out, battle of top-decking (or close-to) can be interesting. I'd whittled a Warlock down under 10 health, when he pulled a move that wiped both of our boards. It was pretty slick, actually. This left both of us with two cards a piece, and I thought I was in big trouble, despite having over 20 health myself, because he still could outdraw me for a couple turns. He very nearly did me in, because he kept managing to heal himself with Life Drain and other tricks, while clearing my board every turn. At one point I thought I had him, because he was down to 4 health, and I had a 3 damage lighting card in my hand, but I didn't get a spell-power totem, and he healed up off of what I did summon.
I managed to pull out a win, though, because he got greedy. Despite having three minions on the field, one of them a Doomguard at full health, he still got greedy enough to card draw himself down to 5 health. I pulled out a Fire Elemental, and was very glad I'd held on to my lightning spell, instead of using it to mitigate the incoming damage. I've never used my Fire Elemental's battlecry on a hero before, but 3 + 3 = 1 dead Warlock.
figmentPez
Staff member
I think one of the concepts I've had the most trouble learning is that cards can be as important as mana. This is why Moonfire and Wisp initially struck me as good cards, but are actually terrible. They're not "free", they're costing you a card, and in multiple ways. They're a better card you couldn't put in your deck, and they're a stronger card you could have drawn. For all the times you'd be glad to have 1 more damage to throw at your enemy, there will be a lot more times when you'd wish you had a more powerful card to play.
It can be turned against them, though. If you have a handful of minions and can put out some healers of your own (healing totem, darkscale healer), you can force a Priest to deck himself (and lose access to all those extra cards he could have drawn). Note that the card draw is not optional, but mandatory.
--Patrick
I can see that backfiring, though.
figmentPez
Staff member
I killed myself, well died faster, because I had a Mana Tide Totem out, and no way to kill it off. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have won anyway, but it certainly finished me off faster. At least a Northshire cleric can run itself into something powerful enough to kill it.
figmentPez
Staff member
So much for consistently getting wins. I just had 7 or 8 losses in a row, only broken by my opponent going AFK. I think both my Rogue and Warrior decks need some serious work.
Moonfire can actually be decent in a spellpower deck, but it's certainly not going to work in most decks. Same with wisp.
figmentPez
Staff member
Bwhahahaha! I just had the the most hilarious fight against a Druid. On his turn 3 he pulled double Innervate to put down an Ancient of Lore. I'm sure that was not his first choice to pull that trick with. It got him some cards, and I might have been forced to use the Swipe I stole from him, as well as one of my minions, but it was early and I decided to go crazy by coining into Mind Games...
Which resulted in my getting Gruul out of his deck. A Gruul he couldn't kill because I had a Goldshire Footman to keep him from Swiping and then sacking his Ancient of Lore into.
I'd have felt bad about winning with such a lucky move, but I'm pretty sure his deck is built around pulling such powerful creatures out early. If he'd pulled Gruul instead of his Ancient of Lore, I most likely would have been counting on getting a Shadow Word: Death in the next couple of turns.
Which resulted in my getting Gruul out of his deck. A Gruul he couldn't kill because I had a Goldshire Footman to keep him from Swiping and then sacking his Ancient of Lore into.
I'd have felt bad about winning with such a lucky move, but I'm pretty sure his deck is built around pulling such powerful creatures out early. If he'd pulled Gruul instead of his Ancient of Lore, I most likely would have been counting on getting a Shadow Word: Death in the next couple of turns.
figmentPez
Staff member
Coin - Innervate - Wild Growth - Wild Growth has got to be one of the craziest openings I've ever made playing my Druid deck. It was the best play I could make with my opening hand, though. There was little point in hanging onto any of those cards when they'd give me a permanent 1 mana lead over my opponent. I could have held on to the innervate and played the Wild growth on turn 2, but I didn't want to have to pass up a chance to play a 4 mana card on turn 2 if I drew well. After that point, I was relying on top deck luck, but I really did luck out. Wrath killed off a wolf-rider and got me a card. Stranglethorn Tiger went out to lurk, and then an Ancient of Lore gave me two more cards. My opponent ended up conceding when his Timber wolf + Stonetusk Boar + 4 Hound charge barely got through my 7/7 Taunt, and couldn't prevent me from stabilizing and having lethal on him the following turn.
I discovered some classes I 'get' and can make decks for, and some just elude me. Rogues, no fricken clue. Warrior cards are fairly no duh to pick and I'm doing ok with those.
I think once I get some of the rarer cards this will change, but for now the Warrior deck seems to be one of my better ones. Warrior and Warlock quests, here I come!
I think once I get some of the rarer cards this will change, but for now the Warrior deck seems to be one of my better ones. Warrior and Warlock quests, here I come!
figmentPez
Staff member
My Rogue decks tend to suck as well. If I can't get anywhere after I more attempt to refine it, I'll probably post it here and ask for advice.
I love my rogue deck, especially if I go second.
Turn 1:
Coin, Defias Ringleader (summons a scrub, since it was played after coin)
Shadowstep defias ringleader
play again, since it's now free after shadowstep, summon another scrub.
Opponent quits.[DOUBLEPOST=1393292373,1393292339][/DOUBLEPOST]Rogue is mainly about controlled aggression, and being tricksy.
Turn 1:
Coin, Defias Ringleader (summons a scrub, since it was played after coin)
Shadowstep defias ringleader
play again, since it's now free after shadowstep, summon another scrub.
Opponent quits.[DOUBLEPOST=1393292373,1393292339][/DOUBLEPOST]Rogue is mainly about controlled aggression, and being tricksy.
Pull weapons: win.
For comparison:
My Ranked Shaman deck.
Trying to break past Rank 12 with it at the moment.
Oh and people are getting mad at my Void Terror Deck something fierce:
That Void Terror ate a Power overwhelming Argus Defender and a Leeroy after they did their work. I had already baited out his two SW
eaths.
My Ranked Shaman deck.
Oh and people are getting mad at my Void Terror Deck something fierce:
eaths.Wow, very close to what I've got! I imagine if I had more Shaman cards I'd have something closer to yours. Sylvanas has eluded me so far, but hopefully soon.
Love the crazy Warlock deck. Wish I had the giants for it!
I did pull off Tink'ing my 1/1 Totem I summoned into a 5/5, which was super cool.
Love the crazy Warlock deck. Wish I had the giants for it!
I did pull off Tink'ing my 1/1 Totem I summoned into a 5/5, which was super cool.
In all honesty Sylvanas wouldn't be there if I had a Cairne. Cairne and Bloodmage are the last two important (Neutral) Legendaries I'm missing.
I'm finding Rag less and less useful and am moving towards more low cost legendaries. Too much creature kill out there just for him. Big Game Hunter, SW: Death, Hex, Poly, Tinkmaster etc
Does that take out lower cost legendaries like Sylv/Cairne/Black Knight? Sure but it didn't cost you 8 mana to cast them.
You make good points. I'm usually almost out of cards by that point anyways, though!
Yikes, had a close Arena game! I'm sorta new to Arena and thought I'd follow some advice I heard which advocated only taking AOE spells and creatures which had effects which could be played like spells. This is what I drafted.
I've seen people get some amazing pulls and think this one is just ok. still, had a great game which ended up with me at 4 only to have him concede having 10 life.
My adrenaline is still pumping!
I've seen people get some amazing pulls and think this one is just ok. still, had a great game which ended up with me at 4 only to have him concede having 10 life.
My adrenaline is still pumping!
I hate to see what the other choices were that boar was the best choice. Yikes! Other than that, not too bad. Hard to say without knowing what the other draft choices were, but outside of boar and voodoo doctor, I don't see any cards I would never draft given the right circumstance. Frostwolf Grunt is also pretty weak (as is most taunt cards that aren't tazdingo and sunwalker) but again, depending on the draft, I can see how it'd be useful.
Two bombers might be one too many, especially with those low health minions, but bombers are great, so not too bad.
Two bombers might be one too many, especially with those low health minions, but bombers are great, so not too bad.
Yeah, that was disappointing to get. The boar and voodoo doctor were both cases where my other choice was a direct damage card which wasn't AOE. I actually did 3 damage using the Boar in my game, and he wasted a card to get rid of it. The Grunt I didn't have a whole lot to choose from, either. Oddly enough, it actually saved my arse on the last turn, forcing my opponent to not kill me.
The Bombers I'd hold onto unless my low health minions are toasted or I don't have any on the board yet.
The Sunwalker was fantastic.
I'm an idiot, and I'll post a picture of the rest of the cards (DUH!)
I didn't realize Taunt wasn't something chosen much in Arena. I probably should have chosen one of the other gold cards I had the option for, but I didn't have experience with either of them.
The Bombers I'd hold onto unless my low health minions are toasted or I don't have any on the board yet.
The Sunwalker was fantastic.
I'm an idiot, and I'll post a picture of the rest of the cards (DUH!)
I didn't realize Taunt wasn't something chosen much in Arena. I probably should have chosen one of the other gold cards I had the option for, but I didn't have experience with either of them.
The reason taunt isn't chosen much in Arena is because most taunt cards are weak for their cost. You can make that work in constructed, but when you don't know what cards you're going to end up with, you want to get the most value you can out of them, and a lot of that value is lost for the taunt. You end up 'paying' for the taunt, when you could be paying for better stats.
That said, black knight is still a good arena card if you've drafted an aggressive deck and can't want that ironbark protector getting in your way. Also, direct damage spells that aren't aoe are good! Just some are better than others. With warlocks, I'd probably only take soulfire (which is amazing) or -maybe- shadowbolt, though depending on my options shadowbolt does tend to be kinda expensive.
That said, black knight is still a good arena card if you've drafted an aggressive deck and can't want that ironbark protector getting in your way. Also, direct damage spells that aren't aoe are good! Just some are better than others. With warlocks, I'd probably only take soulfire (which is amazing) or -maybe- shadowbolt, though depending on my options shadowbolt does tend to be kinda expensive.