2943

I netdeck archetypes and then tweak, swap in/out tech cards, make little changes, etc. I’m not smart enough to reinvent the wheel, and/or don’t have time to test new archetype ideas. I still seem to be hovering between 15 and 10, alternating big win streaks and awful lose streaks. Just don’t have the skill to get to the next level, it seems.

2944

Nothing wrong with netdecking; I do the same thing as Gordon. I think getting to 10 and lower (I have only done it once) consists of (1) finding a good deck, (2) learning every permutation of the deck in various matchups, and (3) putting in the time.

The first two aren’t really that hard, but the third is just a grindy buzzkill. And there is no avoiding it, since the best, most refined decks (say Patron Warrior) only have a win rate of 55-60%.

2945

I try to maintain one good netdeck per class so that I can do dailies efficiently, focussing on straightforward, easy to play archetypes like midrange or aggro; speed is more important than winrate for climbing ranks. Then I change them around frequently for variety and to adapt to the opposition. Once you run into a Dragon Priest cluster, it’s time to drop the Face Hunter.

2946

Hmm, back to rank 11 with my old Patron warrior, after hearing experts (including Trump and Strifecro) say it was a very strong deck in this meta. I even beat a handlock with it, which doesn’t happen often.

Happy times for now, but tomorrow is another day =/

2947

I crafted Twilight Guardians for my dragon priest deck, and played a few ranked games with it while clearing out daily quests. My lack of Chillmaw and Ysera has lost me a few games already when the game went long and I wasn’t drawing any major threats. But I don’t care much about climbing the ladder, so that’s all right. It’s a lot of fun to play, at least in my opinion, and that goes a long way toward me being willing to run it out onto the ladder for a few games.

2948

There’s a lot of aggro decks on the ladder, which are good matchups for patron warrior. It’s also a fun deck to play, though I absolutely hate to play against it (the 30+ damage OTKs can be infuriating when you’re on the receiving end).

2949

The new tavern brawl is an interesting one, giving the player behind on health a free 3-cost minion at the start of their turn. Put together a combination ramp/token druid and won my first attempt vs a priest. The first 6 turns or so were just us staring at each other, then I started in on him and was able to draw enough damage to overcome his extra minions. I’m guessing there will be a lot of zoolock played in that brawl.

When I opened the pack, I got a Murlock Warleader, which was apparently the last Murloc I didn’t have other than Old Murk-Eye, because I got a quest reward: Old Murk-Eye, saying that I got it because I own every Murloc. Cool, didn’t even know that one existed.

2950

Actually, I recently got old murkeye myself. Then oddly when I was playing a game, it did that same announcement that I got the card again. I went to my collection, and sure enough I have two of him. Unfortunately I can’t dust him because he is a core card.

2951

This Tavern Brawl is pretty cool. I’m happy to dust off a slightly modified version of my Malygos Warlock since it is a great fit for this. Don’t have to worry too much about facing off against hard-aggro decks, I have a lot of control of my own life compared to my opponent’s, and of course that glorious 20+ damage burst when the combo hits. The life management metagame is quite interesting in this one.

2952

I built a Priest deck based on stealing stuff and Frost Giants, then kept healing my opponent so he wasn’t getting free minions until I could put down my Frost Giants for 0 mana.

For added fun, he had the full seven minions down toward the end of the game, including a couple 1/1s and my Sylvanus+Shadow Word Death 9 mana thoughtsteal plucked Garrosh out of that lineup, allowing me to get lethal.

2953

Good lord, I just defeated one of the most insane arena decks I’ve ever encountered. My opponent was a Paladin who started the game with Shielded Minibot on turn 2 into Scarlet Crusader on turn 3. As if double divine shields wasn’t hard enough to deal with, he Truesilver Champions on turn 4, which I was able to Ooze. Then he plays another Truesilver Champion on turn 5 and then Murloc Knight and hero power on turn 6. I Hexed the Murloc Knight and on Turn 7 he spread out all over the board while I had nothing on board. I was super lucky to top-deck into an Elemental Destruction and clear everything. I don’t remember the exact sequence of the following events, but it featured him playing a Kraken the turn after I played mine and then two Consecrations from him. Then when it finally came down to top-deck wars, I was fortunate to draw into a Frost Giant and it was a race for damage at that point. He pulled a Master Jouster who lost the joust, which let me hit his face and narrowly win the game.

2954

I found this week’s brawl to be annoying - it stalls the initial game considerably. It makes it a wee bit intersting in the different problems to solve for, but it is just more waiting for that perfect burst combo + RNG on if you get a good minion when you’re down by 4 life.

2955

Destroying people in brawl with zoo warlock. The ability to control your own health + draw cards is pretty OP. Playing the imp that whacks your own health for 3 on turn one makes a controllerish deck fairly impossible to deal with. Getting a extra free minion every turn the first 3 or 4 turns is very hard to recover from.

2956

I haven’t tried Zoo, but I was going to say that Handlock is practically cheating in this week’s brawl.

2957

Agreed re handlock. As if that deck needs more help.

2958

…and suddenly I’m on a massive losing streak tumbling back to rank 14 almost. Probably 5 of the last 6 opponents I have played have been control warriors except for one totally random ‘aggro warrior’ who took me by surprise. They’re completely crunching my patron. No idea if the meta is shifting or if I am just having shitty luck.

I don’t think I have the psychological fortitude for these long, endless swings in momentum. Rank 9 seems farther away than ever before, and the amount of work/practice I put in seems to have absolutely no connection to my result, which is killing my enjoyment.

2959

…on the other hand, I just won a hilarious game of patron v. patron. I had all my shit set up but screwed up by prematurely killing the minion i was supposed to bounce my ghoul/activator off of. All I could do was sit on my hands and wait till the next turn with a bunch of patrons and 2 armorsmiths on the board, and my warsong/frothing combo in hand. He had a 1-charge Deathsbite in hand and had already dropped Emperor so I knew the hurricane was coming. Sure enough, he goes full aggro, deathsbite rattle, 2x whirlwind, etc… gets his Frothing up to like 42 damage. I’m sitting there counting like crazy – I have 2 armorsmiths up so it’s this math war between his Frothing and my armor. He kills both my armorsmiths with his patrons and keeps pumping his Frothing – then he gets greedy and hits it with an inner rage, killing it before it can attack! I laughed out loud as he ragequit.

2960

I was in a similar boat the other day. After cruising along from ranks 10 through 6 with a win streak, crushing the an army of hunters and druids I faced, I was only 2 wins away from my ultimate goal of rank 5. Suddenly, I started running into nothing but bad matchups. Secret Paladins, Patron Warriors, Tempo Mages. I treaded water for a while, then dropped back to rank 7. Had to take a break right there and start hoping the short term meta shifts back in my favor in a few days. I’ll give it another shot before the month ends, but the downswings in momentum can definitely be frustrating. About a week ago, I had dropped all the way to rank 16 and didn’t think I’d even hit rank 10 this month, so you can still pull it together. I think its best to just take a break and focus on arena or tavern brawl or dink around with weird decks in casual at such times.

2961

allright, here are some tips maybe you guys can get some use of. I got legend once (enough for me thx) and have been playing on and off since.

  • dont go tryhard in the beginning of the month, start to get serious 2 weeks in
  • choose easier decks first (like druid), use a current good decklist (hearthpwn, streamers)
  • choose appropriate decks for the “meta”
  • Try to stick to 2 decks for the month for tryhard ranking. You will need to be expert with them.
  • Be well rested (trust me, you need to be sharp, little “mistakes” do add up)
  • If you feel you are “tilting”, stop playing, do something else.
    - Take your time during turns , many people just play way too fast
  • First plan the optimal play, count your mana, check your order of play and then execute
  • Think at least a turn ahead, what will he play next, what will i do next etc.
  • Don’t start tabbing out of your games
  • Watch streamers who are playing your decks
  • Prepare mentally for losing streaks, 5 losses in a row is not rare even when playing “perfectly”
  • Don’t be afraid to continue playing from rank 5 and up. If you dont play, you cannot reach it.
  • Complex board states can easily lead to mistakes (running out of time), you might want to print screen these situations so you can have a look back after the game.
  • Mulligan is super important, depends on the class you are playing and the opponent
  • Try to remember key cards used by yourself and opponent, you can use a decktracker for this (i prefer my own mind)

Just some random stuff, hope it will help someone!

2962

Thanks for the pointers. Seems like good advice!

I just opened a gold Varian Wrynn. Now I’m not sure if I want to keep it or disenchant it. That also completes my set of warrior legendaries, which also happens to be my least favorite class to play.