It’s been a good streak if you ignore the stupid mage runs but the only secret is I have is far too much time on my hands. I tend to listen to/watch arena streams as I fall asleep, and hearthstone is about the only game holding my attention at the moment. I used to watch a lot of Trump and still watch a lot of ADWCTA/Merps but really I think it’s just repetition for the most part; I think I play more instinctively than thoughtfully other than obvious things like trying to decide if I need/can afford to play around flamestrike.
That said, your mage average is above mine, which is my tied with druid as my lowest class now at exactly 5. But druid is actually moving up since TGT came out while mage is going down.
Yeah, that’s pretty incredible to be averaging anything that high, Outlandish. I watch others play and still have no idea how they win, unless you count “they got offered actual useful cards to draft”. That seems to be pretty rare for me, especially after this latest release. For instance, I just did a Druid run which ended at 2 wins. No Swipe. No Druid of the Claw. No Wrath. Lost all three to Paladins, each of whom played at least one Consecration and Guardian of Kings, plus assorted other great stuff: Shielded Minibot, Aldor Peacekeeper, Truesilver Champion, Sword of Justice, Seal of Champions, etc. (I did beat a Paladin in one of my two wins, and no surprise…he didn’t play any of that stuff.) It’s not that I didn’t have some good cards, but without some of the core utility stuff (especially Swipe), I was constantly losing 2-for-1 trades and eventually just running out of steam. I enjoy playing Arena, that’s why I keep going back, but I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of actually averaging better than 3-ish wins.
delirium
2885
I also played a Druid in the arena last night that ended with only 2 wins. Despite having a pretty balanced deck with some good cards, no swipe for me. I think without that card, it is really easy to fall behind on the board. Especially when you play against these goddamn Paladins with their Murloc Knights who get all these minions on the board with a simple 2 mana hero power. It’s just very hard to keep up with that when you don’t draft a board clear. I think post-TGT arena runs are more determined by your draft options than ever. I enjoy the mode and it’s the best bang for your gold even without getting many wins, but I’ve been doing really horrible in the last couple weeks.
I really want to put together a murloc paladin deck, but my first attempt was awful.
Brakara
2887
Try mixing secret paladin with murlocs. A friend of mine have had some success with it, though at lower ranks (he usually ends the season at around rank 14-15).
prolix
2888
Thanks for the writeup. You may be right about Shrinkmeister. One of my most satisfying moments recently was Shrinkmeister on my opponent’s Ysera followed by Cabal Shadow Priest on Ysera. YOINK!
Spock
2889
@Outlandish: For what it’s worth, people are saying the Mage has slipped in Arena, perhaps to #3, behind Paladin and Rogue (or is it Rogue and Paladin?). Some stats for the first week after TGT here: https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/3jh5zy/1_week_of_tgt_heartharena_mage_lost_its_throne_in/
Then again, the devs have said they’re skewing Arena picks toward TGT cards for now, to highlight the new content, so maybe Mage will make a comeback if the skew stops. Maybe that will mean more Polymorphs and Flamestrikes for the Mage again.
I did finally have a good mage run, 10 wins, all it took was a blizzard, a flamestrike, an overpowered legendary (Rhonin, picked over Ysera which I think was correct though I’m still not certain) and 2 dalaran aspirants which got spell power and made all of Rhonin’s death missiles so much more potent. Amazing how many times I was able to pull that off through the run. Really it just came down to having the board clears when I needed them generally, so I can’t read too much into one good run.
I was quite a bit more control this time around and maybe that’s my issue with mage, I might draft a bit too aggro for it in general as I really hate not having the board early. Maybe I can cut down to 5 2 drops, I usually try and have 6-7 and with the new prevalence of 3 drops it’s even less important. I’ll have to try and not just automatically pick a serviceable 2 whenever it shows up for a while and see how that goes.
Brakara
2891
Ah, the dream, nice.
Here’s two different takes on Dragon Priest from Kibler and Kolento:
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/321735-kolento-37-0-100-win-the-beast-is-unleashed
Mine is more similar to Kolento’s, but there’s a mix of both in there. Having now seen them, I’ve switched out the Twilight Drakes for a Dragonking Sorcerer and Vol’jin. I tried Dark Cultists instead of Blackwing Technicians, but I didn’t like that at all. My opponents easily dealt with the cultist without proc’ing its deathrattle every time it was on the board, and I found that they have a much harder time dealing with the +1 health of the technician.
One interesting note is the use of an extra Shadow Word: Death instead of Rend, which I guess is to have a better matchup against secret paladins. Worth a try if you’re running up against those bastards a lot.
Spock
2892
Just had one of my most fun Arenas ever! Went 8 wins with a Druid, with lots of late game, an acceptable early game, and a shaky middle game, with few 4- and 5-drops. This was my second-best run ever (I once had 9 wins as a Rogue, and I’ve had 8 a couple other times), and easily my best as a Druid.
The clear MVP of the run was the legendary Baron Geddon. He won three games for me. His highlight-reel win was game 8, against a Shaman. I was way behind by turn 6 or 7, and the Shaman had spread wide, with all four totems and three other minions out. I was at 9 health, to his 20-plus. But I got the three enemy minions all down to two health, played Geddon, and watched the fun begin! He wiped the board except for my Boulderfist Ogre, and then those two big guys proceeded to stomp their way to victory, aided by a timely Ironbark Protector and both of my Drakonid Crushers. My only worry was that Geddon would slay me before he slayed the Shaman, but hero-powering every turn kept my health up. One Crackle and it would’ve been all over! But I won.
I played against the following classes:
4 Paladins (I won 3 of 4, losing my final match to a Pally who started with back-to-back Shielded Minibots)
3 Mages (went 2-1 against these)
2 Priests (2-0)
1 Warlock (0-1)
1 Shaman (1-0)
Deck list. Interestingly, wasn’t offered Swipe. (Do people mind my posting these lists? Makes the post kind of long, I know.)
1 x Worgen Infiltrator
1 x Wrath
1 x Faerie Dragon
1 x Flame Juggler (had a couple crucial, well-aimed, one-damage battlecries)
1 x Garrison Commander
2 x Druid of the Saber
1 x Bloodfen Raptor
1 x Loot Hoarder
1 x Big Game Hunter (slayed one 7-2 creature in a losing effort, otherwise was quiet)
1 x Shade of Naxx
1 x Raging Worgen
1 x Demolisher
1 x Spider Tank
1 x Defender of Argus
1 x Sin’jen Shieldmasta
1 x Spellbreaker
1 x Poison Seeds (saved my bacon at least once, and in general proved more useful than I expected)
2 x Druid of the Claw (my only five-drops)
1 x Piloted Sky Golem (surprisingly inconsequential)
1 x Boulderfist Ogre (very helpful)
2 x Drakonid Crusher (the second-place vote-getter for MVP; dropped as a 9-9 as often as not)
1 x Starfire
1 x Archmage
1 x Recycle (surprisingly helpful)
1 x Baron Geddon
1 x Ironbark Protector
1 x North Sea Kraken (awesome when he got play time)
It seems like various recent changes to the meta have made Hellfire much more useful. Being able to do 3 damage on demand is much, much more useful in many situations than 2 (Paladin tokens with +2/+2 or Avenge, Patron warrior, who usually do you the favor of clearing your side for you so you don’t feel guilty about burning your own guys, vitality totem in totem-shaman).
Quite a lot better than the deal 2 to all non-demons, which never seemed to do much for me.
Ive switched to a bit more board control into my demon deck (2x Hellfire, 2x shadowflame). Its still not great, but it does tend towards some exciting finishes.
delirium
2894
I approve of you posting the list. I enjoy the commentary on the picks too.
We talked about the ADWCTA/Merps arena coop channel a little while back. The other day, ADWCTA teamed up with Kripparian on his stream and they did a few runs together. As educational as I have found the videos with Merps, I think this is even a level above that. These guys are both strong-minded and very smart about the game, but they have somewhat different play styles from each other. ADWCTA is strictly tempo focused at just about any cost, while Kripp seems more inclined to think outside of the box and take more unconventional risks. The give and take between these guys is really good stuff and I hope they continue to partner up in the future.
Spock
2895
Oh wow, thanks for that link – I missed it! That will be really fun to watch, for all the reasons you say! Plus, they’re playing a…Warrior?! Going to curl up with my iPad and watch tonight.
Along the same lines, I watched ADWCTA and Merps team up with Hafu one or two nights ago. Merps/ADWCTA had some strong disagreements with Hafu, and the arguments were really illuminating. For example, Hafu argued for keeping their best card, a 5-mana Dark Iron Skulker, rather than mulliganing it away. I was dumbfounded by this suggestion, as were ADWCTA/Merps, but Hafu’s approach won the day, and it worked well.
I think it’s great to see good players mix it up like this. It’s all too easy for us ordinary mortals to fall into a trap of “Just do what Trump would do” or whatever.
Yea, I’ve really been enjoying all the “argumentative” co-ops lately. I keep trying to figure out who I play more like to see if focusing on their game might help raise me a little more, but I find myself agreeing with different players all the time.
I think I side with Hafu a little more on plays, but often not on what she keeps in her hand. I might have to start giving more consideration to keeping a quality higher drop.
I’ve been trying to wean myself off HearthArena a bit lately. It’s a fantastic tool, but I want to be able to critically think about my Arena draft choices a bit more and not get led along so much. I just drafted the following Mage deck that I’m super excited to get home and play. Lots of really high tier stuff in here and I’m actually kind of nervous about playing it since I haven’t been doing so well in arena lately. I was slightly concerned about not having enough 2 drops, and possibly unreliable 3 drops but with the amount of removal I have in here I should be able to catch up if I fall behind. My late game stuff is absolutely brutal if I can ride out the early turns.
2 mana
Flamecannon
Frostbolt
Unstable Portal
Acidic Swamp Ooze
Bloodfen Raptor
Giblin Stalker
Murloc Tidehunter
Sorceror’s Apprentice
Stonesplitter Trogg
3 mana
Dragonhawk Rider
Earthen Ring Farseer
Harvest Golem
Shattered Sun Cleric
Silver Hand Regent
4 mana
Polymorph
Goblin Blastmage (2x)
Piloted Shredder
Spellbreaker
Water Elemental
5 mana
Flame Lance (2x)
Silver Hand Knight
Sludge Belcher
6 mana
Drakonid Crusher
Frost Elemental
Sunwalker
7+ mana
Flamestrike
North Sea Kraken
Sea Giant
Just went 3-3 in Arena with a Paladin. The deck was meh…3 Shielded Minibots and 2 Blessing of Kings sounds great, but I wasn’t offered a whole lot to back them up, and I only drew more than one of each in one game. But the reason I decided to post this wasn’t my deck…it’s the Paladin that I lost to in my last game. The dude had Truesilver Champion, Enter the Coliseum (which cost me 2 dudes), Kodorider, and 3(!) Murloc Knights. And that’s just what he played, he probably had more! Just before I conceded on turn 10, he had Kodorider out from the prior turn (I had already spent everything I had to kill a MK on the prior turn), dropped two MKs, and hit his hero power. Crazy!
Only went 3-3 with that deck…sigh. I think probably 2 of my losses were just about unwinnable. My first loss occurred when I played a Summoning Portal on turn 2 (it was all I had to play) and only got a 1/2 Murloc and then had no turn 3 play. I was behind on the board, but I kept my head above water for a while. My opponent played a Fel Reaver on turn 6 and I stay alive long enough to mill his whole deck, but never drew a single one of my 3 big card removals in the first half of my deck before he killed me. Another game I didn’t draw anything to play until turn 4 (without the coin) and by that time I was too far behind to do much. I know my deck was a little weak on the front end, but I didn’t think it was bad enough for that outcome. Disappointed, but I did get a gold epic (Twilight Guardian) out of my reward pack.
I lost yesterday to the most unfair arena deck I’ve ever seen. He had frostbolt, flamecannon, poly, fireball, 2 flamestrikes, fel reaver, toshley, and antonidas. Plus about 10 cards I never saw. In addition to just good minions. He didn’t play a single dud, literally.
I think the worst thing I saw from him was a sunfury protector iirc. Some 2 drop with upside anyway, I am forgetting it a bit now; it’s mostly just the legendaries and stupid amounts of removal that stick in my head. My deck was excellent which is why I managed to make it through about 20 of his cards, but the 2nd flamestrike after antonidas did me in.
I’ve been getting a lot of good mileage out of Hellfire in my Demon-Warlock deck recently. I had been running Demonwrath (2 damage to all non-demons), but I find the 3 damage is really much more useful than 2 damage. This is partially due to Patron Warrior, but also thanks to the Paladin Silver Hand Recruits, who have a number of ways to get +2 health these days. I also think that people are used to playing around 2 damage (Consecration), but less used to playing around 3 damage.
As a result of the token-paladin and other aggro I’ve been seeing, I’ve gone to 2 Hellfires and 2 Shadowflames for AoE. It’s oddly satisfying to Shadowflame a 1/1 imp to take out a 4+ Silver Hand recruits on the other side, although probably not very cost-effective.
I’ve been thinking about dropping the Nerubian Eggs, but that would probably require a bunch of re-structuing, as Nerubian Egg->Power Overwhelming->Void Terror is a pretty core early game combo. Without them, I’d probably want to drop the Void Terrors, as their only good fodder at that point would be the Voidcallers, which are pretty expensive.
I’m not sure about the new Warlock TGT cards. The activate-on-discard stuff seems pretty questionable. I also can’t really see an argument for DemonFuse (+3/+3, opponent gets a mana crystal) over Demonfire (+2/+2 or 2 damage).
prolix
2902
The new warlock discard cards are pretty terrible. I guess there’s some potential there, but I think they’re like the beast cards for druid from Goblins & Gnomes: not enough supporting cards to make them actually work for you. Hopefully they’ll flesh out that mechanic more going forward, like they did with druid.
Also probably playing a part was that warlocks don’t really need any help right now; they’re pretty strong with several deck archetypes. Can’t say that about rogue, though. The expansion barely does anything for them, as near as I can tell. I guess you could make a better mill deck with Beneath the Grounds, but that deck was already marginal, and is still outclassed by a druid mill deck (which got Mulch).
Basically, you can make a different flavor of oil rogue now, and that’s it. Maybe Burgle could fit in some kind of control deck and Cutpurse in a miracle deck, I dunno.
