Hearthstone

[KysenMurrin]

A priest deck should do without one Mind Control at least. It's a total game braker by itself IMHO.

I mean for the Mage deck. (My Priest deck has two MCs.)

I have one of the Gnome cards that MCs a random minion. But a targeted Silence would probably be better than the random-out-of-four card. I just feel like some kind of counter that doesn't require me to kill a minion would be good to have in this deck, since my biggest weakness seems to be getting bogged down clearing the enemy minions.

I think the only Silence card I have is the owl. Wonder what I could drop to fit it in. It'd be good to be able to just silence one of the buff or draw-a-card minions.

[Sagara]

I wouldn't go for the MC Gnome - apart from weenie rush deck, people won't be caught dead with 4 minions on the table (maybe Pallies or Shams, but even then). A board clear is already easy enough.

As for silence, it depends on how fast do you need it - Owl is a cheap silence, which means you can keep playing stuff alongside it, but it's so goddamn weak it might as well be a simple "silence a minion" spell. If you need those late game, Spellbreakers might be your stuff: a 4/3 for 4 with built-in Silence. It's common as well, so easy to craft.

I'm starting to distrust the Juggler/Weenie deck I had - I'm probably going to go for no special tricks, just pure bang for the buck. Probably going to re-cycle BoK in for the boosted Silver Hands surprise special.

[KysenMurrin]

Re: "easy to craft", that assumes it's actually possible to get dust. Unless I DE my only copies of some of the cards I have (and most only give 5 dust), crafting's not happening often.

(I've already done the whole "screw it, it's only beta, I'll not end up using these cards and time soon" and DEd most of the ones I didn't want to hold. Even a rare that gave 100 dust (which gave me Blizzard, which is excellent).)

[Sagara]

Ho. Are you aware there might not be another wipe at launch?

[Aubade]

Hmm. I wasn't aware of that. ...perhaps DEing me entire shammy collection wasn't a good idea.....

I'm prettty noob at this game however. Ive been having a lot of fun with the mage and priest decks. As well as a run with druid for a day or two

[Kai]

pretty sure they said there will be no more collection wipes, at least that's what they planned.

[KysenMurrin]

I'm aware that I'm on a US beta and will be switching to EU at launch. Plus I don't particularly care about keeping some of these cards I don't like the look of (like the Goblin Mercenary. I can't imagine myself ever using him.)

But yeah: Dust, hard to come by. Only get enough gold for a pack maybe every 2-3 days, most of those cards you want to keep. Maybe the arena awards will make a difference at higher levels, but I'm still at 6 games, 6 losses, and only got about 15 dust per try.

[Sagara]

Arena is highly profitable from 4 wins onwards. It's fairly easy to get 50 gold and 50 dust on top of your pack with 5-6 wins.

I got my own Arena primer here.

It's *far* from perfect, but it can get you thinking in the right direction.

[Rizin]

If anyone happens upon an extra key I would love to try this out

[KysenMurrin]

So I've just spent a while reading guides and posts, mostly on IHearthU.com, and I'm starting to get a picture of things I should have been aware of but wasn't. Like understanding the relative value of cards, and how to plan a smart opening hand.

Read one particular thing which was a player's run down of all the Basic Neutral cards ranking them and explaining why, which has helped a lot.

I'm now more aware that I'm a Control player, which fits with the direction my Mage deck has been heading, with the defensive play and occasional late-game turnarounds. And I realise some simple mistakes in building the deck - for example, I've been fond of using Booty Bay Bodyguards, when really the Sen'jin Shieldmasta is just a good value card and, I now realise, would fill a gap that'll help me defend through the early game.

Will be tweaking my deck tonight.

[Sagara]

Never looked at IheartU yet - printer is now working full throttle :-p

[KysenMurrin]

Unfortunately this reading up has got me all self-conscious about the state of my deck. With all the mage spells in there (mostly at 1/2/4 mana), I'm now very uncomfortably aware of how few minions I have available to play at most mana levels, and the guide stuff tends to talk about control through minions in early turns being crucial. I can definately tell my deck is weak in the early stages of the game.

[Nakama]

Been playing this a little, got my Mage levelled up to 10, now working on Paladin, all through matchmaking games. Can you level up and the like through practice as well? I haven't played a single practice game, just unranked at first, then ranked once I realized what the ranking icon was doing.

I have the same sort of problems with my Mage deck, Kysen. I really like the control aspects and definitely like Counterspell. Trading 1-for-1 on cards is so common and I love getting a later drop with my 3 mana Counter.

Hope everyone is having fun with this. Yell if you want to play a game, I'm Nakama#1564 (I think).

--Jed

[bldavis]

practice mode is how i get all my decks to 10 and the basic sets unlocked

[Sagara]

My big problem with Secrets is that it becomes fairly predictable what you played when your opponent has a bit of experience.

My M.O. when a Secret drops is typically:
1) Drop a "weak" minion (low stats, no active effect for Mage/Paladin, whatever can be Sniped by Hunters - deathrattlers and battlecriers are nice for that).
2) Attack the Hero with a weak minion (for Hunter: careful of Explosive Traps).
3) If a Mage and one is available, drop a cheap/less useful spell. (Then again, you may be able to win purely with minions).
4) When all else fails, he has Ice Block, Redemption or Snake Trap. Act appropriately (i.e. get an AoE ready for Snake, kill a weak minion for Pallies and just keep wailing on the Mage)

Secrets are still *decent* cards at that point, especially if you're already in control of the field, but don't expect to MuhahahahaBOOMexplode his Stormwind CHampion or something like that.

Meanwhile, Domination quests are f*cking annoying, especially with decks you barely have experience with, while your MMR is high enough to throw you Legendaries left right and center.

[KysenMurrin]

Couldn't get any games played last night after I got to 29/40 minions destroyed because of "playful sprites" (aka, network/account bugs). Had a spare half hour this morning so logged on to play a game, but the new quest is Rogue/Warrior wins.

I put together a quick Warrior deck and hit practice to start levelling, but guess what? Playful sprites on practice mode, too! Bah.

[KysenMurrin]

Logged on for two quick games this morning and won both. Was surprised by the reward for 100 wins popping up. So now I have 400 gold.

Figure I'll do 3 arena entries next, rather than buying packs.

I made my deck a little more aggressive: took out a Mirror Image for a Mana Wyrm, made room for an Argent Commander (IIRC? The one with Divine Shield and Charge) and two Wolfriders, seems to be working out. Not entirely convinced by the 1-health Wolfriders, though.

Also need to sort out my AoE. Currently have 1 Arcane Explosion, 1 Blizzard, 1 Flamestrike, and 2 Cone of Colds. Not sure that works. Could maybe swap to two Blizzards or two AEs instead of one of each, but can't work out which would be better.

Unfortunately today's new quest is Shaman or Warlock, so I need another new hero levelled.

[Sagara]

I made my deck a little more aggressive: took out a Mirror Image for a Mana Wyrm, made room for an Argent Commander (IIRC? The one with Divine Shield and Charge) and two Wolfriders, seems to be working out. Not entirely convinced by the 1-health Wolfriders, though.

I don't see Wolf Riders happening for mages: Wolfriders are nothing more than a 3-mana frostbolt without the Freeze at that point. The Commander *is* nice, otoh, espcially if you run with a few taunters/Defenders of Argus.

Also need to sort out my AoE. Currently have 1 Arcane Explosion, 1 Blizzard, 1 Flamestrike, and 2 Cone of Colds. Not sure that works. Could maybe swap to two Blizzards or two AEs instead of one of each, but can't work out which would be better.

Depends on the deck structure and metagame I guess. I'd rather have Blizzard's "All-purpose" approach for the increased cost. Only reason I'd use AE is for weenie decks (à la Murloc)

Unfortunately today's new quest is Shaman or Warlock, so I need another new hero levelled.

If I get a vote I'd say Warlock. I've been working on a SuiLock deck (shuns discard effect and focuses on Health management in order to summon early big nasties like the Pit Lord), and it's *so* fast and furious it's ridiculous. And IF you get bogged down? BOOM, instant Jarraxus (when/if I ever get it in a pack :-p)

[KysenMurrin]

Maybe I should switch the Wolfriders back to Shieldmastas, then. At least, I think I swapped out the Shieldmastas? Haven't seen them for a while. Or maybe a Yeti.

Thing with AoE is, Blizzard feels a little expensive for its damage (though of course Freezing a strong line can buy you a turn) but AE feels very weak unless you get a line of low health minions.

[Sagara]

Well, that's basically what they're here for - hard counter against weenie decks with a side-dish of some damage on bigger things. It's also fairly rare to see more than one 1 Health minion on the table. Blizzard already feels nicer than a Kobold/AE combo.

On the non-weenie side of things, consider you'll probably have 3 minions on the other side. Blizzard becomes a 6 damage spell for 5, with a build-in Freeze.

All in all, I feel it's worth the investment. It's not likely you're going to need that AE on turn 3 or 4.

[KysenMurrin]

Alright. Once I'm done with my Arenas I'll see if I can get myself a second Blizzard card.

[Passionario]

[KysenMurrin]

Okay, three arena runs: First, 3/3 with a Hunter. Then 1/3 with a godawful Warrior deck (lots of 2s, only one 4), then another 3/3 with a Hunter again.

Didn't get anything useful from the card packs. But I had 95 dust once I was done.

[KysenMurrin]

So today I encountered Lord Jaraxxus (Eredar Lord of the Burning Legion) for the first time.

Is it just me, or is that card ridiculously overpowered?

[bldavis]

the issue with playing him is he replaces your character and has only 15 health

but yeah i agree, seems pretty OP

oh and open beta coming in dec/jan